I journeyed to Tranent last week to visit the nearest bank.

The newly refurbished building which now serves as a Post Office, cafe and well-stocked shop is excellent. High Street was a blaze of colour with beautiful displays of flowers and tubs. The war memorial also looked splendid, surrounded again by more flowers in full bloom.

Today, I drove through Musselburgh and again was met by a splendour of colour from Loretto corner right up the full length of High Street with many flowers on railings/tubs etc.

In contrast in Prestonpans, whilst there is the Coronation Gardens, which are very nice, the area around the war memorial has been neglected for many years.

Today (Monday) there are no flowers on show, weeds have dried up, including growing out of surrounding walls. There is an ‘old Poppy wreath’ within the railings, well past its best.

Can I suggest some local group takes control? I would volunteer to help, if that is what it takes.

Surely money could be made available from the same pot that Tranent and Musselburgh seemingly have quite rightly sourced?

With a little effort, the Pans could also enjoy a splash of colour and enhance a rather sad-looking war memorial area and High Street at this time of year.

I end by saying that this war memorial is one of the finest in Scotland in respect of the attention to detail of the Scottish soldier and his uniform – the words of First World War author Jack Alexander (McCrae’s Battalion), not mine.

Freddie Wood

Prestonpans