A DEDICATED group of volunteers working to preserve part of the area’s heritage are heading for their busiest time of the year.

Colin Stove and his colleagues who form the local group of the Scottish Covenanters Association have recently completed a cleanup operation of a grave near Logan.

The extent of their work is shown in our two photographs which highlights how much work was needed — in the before picture — and the end result of their endeavours.

Their task was to clean up John MacGeachan’s grave, at Stonepark, to the the east of Loganhill Road, which connects Logan with the A76 Cumnock to New Cumnock road.

Mr Stove said: “We paid for the materials out of our own pockets as we had to buy things like masonry paint and ladders.

“The group has approached the Scottish Heritage Fund as we are approaching the summer months when we work at as many graves as possible while the weather is good.

“Ours is a small group which started off in 2014. We recently attended the association’s annual general meeting in East Kilbride when we gave a talk on what we have been doing.”

Cumnock and surrounding communities were strong supporters of the Covenanters, who opposed the Stuart kings’ involvement in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

As a result there are five graves and monuments in the area which Mr Stove’s group looks after while they continually carry out research to try and trace more local Covenanters.

Members also go further afield and many events are marked for this year, which is the 350th anniversary of a battle which took place in the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh.

Local historian Dane Love is a good source of information, while the group regularly meet in Cumnock and have a couple of projects on the horizon.

One commemorates the life of a Covenanter who was shot and killed by soldiers at Upper Wellwood near Muirkirk, close to the River Ayr Walk.

Anyone with an interest in the Scottish Covenanters and history of the west of Scotland will be made most welcome to the get-togethers, said Mr Stove.

“Our monthly meetings are At The Barrhill Centre, Cumnock, on the second Thursday of the month at 7pm,” he added.