Tree planted at Drumpellier Country Park in memory of beloved member of Coatbridge community
Former teacher Jim McCormack supported hundreds of young people to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh award.
A tree has been planted at Drumpellier Country Park in memory of a beloved member of the Coatbridge community.
Jim McCormack supported hundreds of young people to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh award.
A popular former geography teacher at St Ambrose and Chryston high schools, Jim was also a Duke of Edinburgh supervisor and assessor with North Lanarkshire Council's Community Learning and Development service.
He worked with local groups and additional support needs schools, teaching navigation and campcraft skills to help young people complete their expeditions as part of the award.
Jim also helped develop outdoor learning and expeditions for pupils across North Lanarkshire, and was a member of St Andrew's Orienteering Club.
North Lanarkshire Provost Kenneth Duffy joined Jim's family, friends, colleagues and Father Michael Kane from St Augustine's in Coatbridge to plant the memorial tree.
Provost Duffy said: 'This is a fitting tribute to Jim who loved nature and the outdoors and was passionate about helping young people to explore and appreciate our environment.'
Jim was a keen champion of the Duke of Edinburgh award, which is a prestigious youth achievement program designed to challenge young people aged 14-24 to develop personal skills, achieve their potential, and make a positive impact on their communities.
It involves completing a series of activities in four areas: volunteering, skills, physical recreation and expedition, with a residential section for Gold-level participants.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Duke of Edinburgh backs plans to restore Battle of Waterloo gardens
The Duke of Edinburgh is backing a £1.3 million campaign to restore the gardens at Hougoumont in Belgium, the chateau farm defended by the Coldstream and Scots Guards against overwhelming odds during the Battle of Waterloo. Prince Edward was due to visit the site on Friday, two days after the 210th anniversary of the battle, at which the Duke of Wellington's allied forces vanquished Napoleon's Grande Armée on June 18 1815. The Duke will arrive at the farm via the north gate, where Britain's Foot Guards repelled a French incursion led by an axe-wielding lieutenant. Wellington later declared: 'The success of the battle turned upon the closing of the gates at Hougoumont.' The farm and gardens were devastated during the battle, which left 50,000 dead and wounded. While some of the buildings at Hougoumont, a strategically vital defensive bastion on the right of Wellington's line, were restored for the bicentenary of the battle, the remains of the chateau were kept as a ruin and the gardens were never replanted. Now, the Friends of the Hougoumont Gardens group is leading a fundraising campaign to restore them to the way they would have looked in 1815. 'We're extremely pleased that the Duke of Edinburgh is coming here to back the new initiative and hope his presence will act as a multiplier for support,' Baron Alexander de Vos van Steenwijk, the group's Brussels-based Dutch chairman, told The Telegraph. The Duke, who is Colonel of the Scots Guards, will lay a wreath at the Closing the Gates memorial. The memorial was unveiled in 2015 by King Charles when he was the Prince of Wales, in the presence of Charles Wellesley, the 9th Duke of Wellington and Prince of Waterloo, together with Prince Charles Bonaparte, a descendant of Prince Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother. The Friends of the Hougoumont Gardens (Les Amis des Jardins d'Hougoumont) is administered by the Fondation Roi Baudouin, a royal charity in Belgium. The replanting scheme, overseen by François Goffinet, a renowned garden architect, has already received €1.1 million (£950,000) towards its €1.5 million target. This came mostly from the local Walloon regional government and guarantees that restoration work can begin next year. The project has four elements – reconstructing the French-style formal garden with its symmetrical patterns, restoring the kitchen vegetable garden on the west side of the farm, replanting the large orchard, which was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting, and creating a new, fourth garden on wetland beyond the north gate. 'We know how the gardens looked before the battle because there were many depictions of Hougoumont from the time. We've also worked with archaeologists who have carried out research which shows how and where the trees were planted in the orchard,' said Baron de Vo. 'The new garden, which we're calling a 'biosphere', will show off the wonders of the natural world. 'The idea is to experiment with new species of plants, to encourage insect life and create an educational space for schools and families to visit. 'A 'tree of peace', grown from the seeds of a sapling rescued after the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, will also be planted during the Duke of Edinburgh's visit.' Michael Mitchell, a retired British consultant who served in the Grenadier Guards and lives near the battlefield, is among those closely involved with the planned garden restoration, due to be completed in 2027. 'We have secured around 80 per cent of the funding required and aim to raise the rest through individual donations. It's a very sustainable project,' he said. Kléber Rossillon, a French heritage company that manages the battlefield site, including the Waterloo Memorial museum, has pledged to provide four gardeners to ensure the upkeep of the gardens.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Mash 'n' pea fish pie
Fish pie wouldn't be the same without peas. In this version, shared with me by my friend Lorna, the peas are added to the topping rather than mixed through the sauce. Lorna runs an online Duke of Edinburgh cookery school, which is all about building confidence in young people. Before that, she was the queen of canapés, cooking for the stars and writing countless articles and books. There's nothing she doesn't know about cooking, so I practically bit her hand off when she said she had a great fish pie recipe to share. Overview Prep time 25 mins Cook time 35 mins Serves 2 Ingredients 2 Maris Piper potatoes (around 400g), peeled and cut into 3cm cubes 40g butter 20g plain flour 300ml whole milk 300g skinless sustainable white fish fillet (such as cod, haddock or pollock), cut into 3cm cubes, or use a fish pie mix 1 slice white bread 1½ tbsp olive oil 150g frozen peas or petits pois Method Step Put 2 Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm cubes, in a saucepan of salted water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes or until cooked through. Step While the potatoes are cooking, make the sauce. Melt 20g butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Step Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 20g plain flour, mixing well. Step Gradually add 300ml whole milk, stirring continuously. If there are any lumps, vigorously beat them out with a wooden spoon or whisk. Step Put the saucepan back over a medium-low heat, bring to a simmer then cook for 1 minute while stirring. The sauce should lightly coat the back of a spoon. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Step Remove the saucepan from the heat and gently stir in 300g skinless sustainable white fish fillet (such as cod, haddock or pollock), cut into 3cm cubes. Step Make the crumbs by tearing 1 slice white bread, including the crust, into very small pieces. Put them in a small mixing bowl with 1½ tbsp olive oil, season well and stir well with a fork to coat in the oil. Step Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7. Step Once the potatoes are cooked, add 150g frozen peas and cook for 2 minutes. Step Drain the potatoes and peas, then return them to the pan. Add the remaining 20g butter and mash well – you should end up with smooth potato, but you'll only be able to crush the peas, so the mixture will be a combination of rough and smooth. Season well with plenty of salt and pepper. Step Spoon the fish and sauce into an ovenproof dish and top with the potato-pea mash, spreading the mixture to the edges of the dish with a fork. Scatter over the crumbs. Step Put the dish on a baking tray and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and the crumbs are crisp and golden. Serve on warmed plates.
Press and Journal
14-06-2025
- Press and Journal
Turriff's Jim Glennie, 99-year-old D-Day hero and Gordon Highlanders legend, awarded BEM
Jim Glennie was one of the first Gordon Highlanders to set foot on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day in 1944. And now, at the age of 99, the Turriff loon, who landed in Normandy more than 80 years ago, has been awarded a BEM in the King's Honours list. Mr Glennie, who volunteered at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen well into his 90s, is the regiment's last surviving member from the Second World War. He and his colleagues had no idea what was waiting for them when they arrived in France, but displayed great courage to help liberate France from the Nazis. As he once recalled with typical understatement: 'You were scared within yourself, but you didn't show it. You didn't know what was going to happen – it was very dodgy.' Major Grenville Irvine-Fortescue MBE, the chairman of the Gordon Highlanders Association, paid a warm tribute to his long-term friend. He said: ''The very special award of a BEM to our D-Day veteran, Jim Glennie, is a wonderful recognition of his devotion and service. 'Apart from his war service with 5th/7th Gordons, he has been a stalwart volunteer for the Gordon Highlanders Museum, a very proud standard bearer for the Royal British Legion and equally proud member of the Aberdeen Branch of the Association. 'I know my Gordon Highlander colleagues and so many others with whom he has worked will be delighted for him and I know he will be immensely proud of receiving this great honour in recognition of his achievements.' Mr Glennie and his colleagues made progress after landing in Normandy, but he and his company were ambushed by Germans while making their way towards Caen. Several were killed or wounded, but the rest managed to take temporary cover in a roadside trench as German Panzer armoured vehicles approached. He said: 'The tank came past and it was just spraying us, but we managed to keep our heads down. 'I remember thinking, 'I don't like this' and I jumped out and ran up the road to try and get them when they came round a bend. 'So I'm standing there, firing my gun and, all of a sudden, I felt shots hit me in my right arm and the gun just dropped out of my hand.' It was the end of his war. After recovering in hospital, Jim was transferred along with hundreds of other POWs to Stalag IV-B in Germany. His first day in the camp was his 19th birthday. Mr Glennie met a former German soldier, Karl Hunnold, at the museum in 2017 and the two men, who had previously been on opposite sides, embraced each other warmly. He said at the time: 'Although we can't speak to each other directly because of the language barrier, we can both understand each other because of what we've been through.' And Mr Hunnold responded: 'I hold the Gordon Highlanders in very high regard in my memory, they treated me very well. 'And I am proud to consider Jim as a friend.' John McLeish, chief executive of the museum, told the Press & Journal: 'Jim's military service is well-documented. Less well known is that this year sees him complete 30 years of volunteering at The Gordon Highlanders Museum. 'This is quite remarkable and the early days saw Jim undertake a wide range of duties to get things ready for us opening. 'Fast forward to today and we are very fortunate to see Jim volunteering as a member of the Tuesday team, week in, week out. 'While exceptionally humble and down to earth, Jim is willing to talk to all visitors – young and old – about his experiences. 'Jim is admired and respected by all his colleagues. Put simply, he is our hero.'
