A TALENTED county stonemason has teamed up with a community council to create new carving on the war memorial in Prestonpans honouring fallen soldiers from the town.

Gardner Molloy invited members of Prestonpans Community Council to his Cockenzie workshop to discuss the lettering he would be carving on the new war memorial at the rear end of Civic Square.

Mr Molloy will also be responsible for carving on the new flagstones that will be installed around the square.

The sculptor is keen to keep the old-style lettering on the plinth of the original William Birnie Rhind statue but will also experiment with the addition of long-lasting pigments into the carved letters to compensate for weathering on the Doddington sandstone.

The names of previously forgotten soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars will be commemorated on the war memorial tablets.

Previously, DJ Johnston-Smith, community council chairperson, had said: “Those who will be commemorated are individuals who lived in or who worked in Prestonpans but were, for various reasons, sadly missed off the original town war memorials.”