A MEMORIAL bench paying tribute to soldiers from the Garelochhead area who lost their lives on active service was unveiled in the village on Remembrance Sunday.

The dedication of the new bench, situated close to Garelochhead Parish Church, took place immediately after morning worship at the church, and formed part of a day of commemorations in the villages around Helensburgh on the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice.

Services of remembrance were held at churches or war memorials in Cardross, Rhu, Shandon, Garelochhead, Rosneath, Cove and Arrochar.

At the Shandon memorial, seven-year-old Tilly Paterson and her friend Erin Murney, 8, laid Argyll and Bute Council's wreath – Tilly's father Iain is one of the local authority councillors for the area.

At Craigrownie Parish Church in Cove, congregation member Jill Moore knitted a poppy for each person named on the Cove and Kilcreggan war memorial, while the congregation 'encircled themselves in love' using a giant ball of red wool, during the service.

All those named on the memorial were read out during the Remembrance Sunday service, and at night a memorial beacon was lit.

At St Modan's Parish Church in Rosneath, wreaths were laid during the morning service, while the church's memorial window was lit up as darkness fell in the evening, and just before 7pm, all the names of those from the Rosneath area who gave their lives on active service were read out.

Back in Garelochhead, Karen Dalgleish from the HMS Neptune Volunteer Band played the Last Post at 7pm, and at all three churches the day's commemorations ended with the ringing of the church bells as part of Ringing Out for Peace, a tribute which took place at more than 1,000 churches and cathedrals across the UK.