Community fundraiser launched to repair damaged path named in honour of tragic Scots Marine

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A community effort to raise funds to repair a section of path near Strathblane named after a Marine killed in action in 2006 has been launched.Strathblane Community Development Trust has launched an online fundraiser to raise enough cash to carry out repair work on a section of the Gary Wright Way.The path – linking Blanefield and Strathblane – was named in memory of local hero Gary in 2019.Now the Trust says that the route is in dire need of repair after rain last summer badly damaged it.The section around the stone gateway to the football field is now in need urgent work.On their Just Giving page the Trust said: “The SCDT Paths group has repaired the undermined bit of the GWW, and put in a temporary drainage system to prevent further damage but there’s a limit to what enthusiastic amateurs can do.“To install drainage at these two sites, repair path surfaces, and futureproof them, we have called in professionals, and that costs money.“We raised a grant for more than half the costs but it would be great if local people and paths-users take ownership of this problem, and chip in where they can.“A few quid here and there from some of the hundreds of path users – dog-walkers, cyclists, horse-riders, runners and the rest – should easily see us to this target.”Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.The fundraiser is seeking to raise £2,600.At the time of printing, more than £1,600 had been raised.Blanefield born and bred, Gary Wright was killed by a suicide bomber in Lashkar Gah, in Helmand Province, in 2006, when aged just 22.Gary was part of a convoy leaving the Afghan national police station when they were targeted.A suicide bomber jumped in front of the Land Rover that Gary was travelling in, believed