A Greenock minister was burning the midnight oil in advance of Remembrance Sunday – not writing his sermon but restoring a First World War memorial plaque.

When Greenock Methodist and St Andrew Square United Free churches closed their buildings earlier this year, the Rev Alan Sorensen offered to re-site their War Memorials in Wellpark Mid Kirk, where he is minister. The memorials were rededicated in a special part of the Remembrance service entitled ‘The Boys on the Bronze’.

But first one of the memorials needed some restoration, so Mr Sorensen – who restores antique chandeliers for a hobby – got out his polishes and pastes.

He said: “We are really privileged to be able to offer a new home to these important memorials.

“It’s an odd feeling: having meticulously polished every letter of their names, you begin to feel that you know ‘The Boys on the Bronze’. It may be one hundred years on from the First World War, however the families of the people on those memorials are still here – in fact one of the men’s granddaughters has kindly lent us a postcard he sent from France to be read, and so it’s important to make sure that they are still on display and their memory honoured.”