A service at Glasgow Cathedral to commemorate Erskine’s centenary year will be attended by HRH The Princess Royal.
The Princess Royal will also meet invited guests at a reception afterwards in Barony Hall to mark Erskine’s 100 years of caring for veterans.
The Commemoration Service conducted by Reverend Dr Laurence Whitley, Minister of Glasgow Cathedral, will be held tomorrow (Tuesday 7th June) at 11am.
The military themed service will include testimonies for Erskine by a Scots Guard veteran, who lives in a cottage on Erskine estate, in addition to two pupils from Clydebank High School.
Music will be provided by Glasgow Cathedral Director of Music Andrew Forbes and The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. A familiar face to many Erskine residents and their families, Reverend Jonathan Fleming, Minister of Erskine Parish Church of Scotland will give the address.
Prior to the last hymn, Binyon’s Lines will be read as the Last Post plays.
The service will be screened live to all four Erskine Care Homes so that all residents will be part of the commemorative event.
Following the service, The Princess Royal will meet Erskine veterans, staff and supporters including Erskine Glasgow resident Marion Crake and Erskine’s longest serving volunteer and supporter Kit Michie who also turns 100 this year in September.
The Princess Royal will also meet representatives from Glasgow University and look at a selection of Erskine archive material which University staff are currently archiving.
Her Royal Highness will say a few words at the reception following a short speech by Erskine Chairman Andrew Robertson.
Andrew Robertson said: “The Erskine Centenary Service of Commemoration is an opportunity for reflection and for recognition of the efforts of those who have gone before us and above all an opportunity to express our thanks to this generation and to all previous generations since 1916.”
The Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers was founded on the 29th March 1916 to care for amputees wounded in battle.
The hospital was a pioneering establishment which led the world in the design, manufacture and fitting of artificial limbs. Now known as Erskine, it was ready to receive its first patient on 10th October 1916 and was officially opened on 6th June 1917.
Much has changed in a century, but Erskine’s unparalleled devotion to caring for veterans remains the same today.