A MUCH-NEEDED cash boost will help fuel the maintenance of gardens at an East Renfrewshire war memorial during the summer months. 

Neilston War Memorial Association (NWMA) has been handed £1,000 thanks to customer support at John Robb & Sons garage in the village and Gulf Retail UK’s loyalty scheme.

Matt Drennan, secretary of NWMA, told the Barrhead News: “We would like to thank Jason and John (of John Robb and Sons Ltd) for organising this for us. 

“The money will be mainly spent on keeping the gardens done at the war memorial throughout the summer, making them more aesthetically pleasing, keeping on top of it and making sure the place looks as nice as it should.

“We get them done every three weeks during the growing season, the guy goes in and cuts the grass and weeds the flower beds, so it’ll go towards paying for that.

“It has given us a wee lift because we have not really had a lot of fundraising activities or money coming in and we gave the community quite a lot of money during the Covid period to the schools and churches and things like to try to keep people going through Covid that we could help out.

“We are probably going to plan another fundraiser but this will help us with the gardens at the moment.

“We would really like to thank Gulf as well because it kind of came out of the blue. We never really knew it was happening then we got told the guy from Gulf wants to speak to you. It is really welcome.”

A spokesperson for John Robb & Son Ltd they were happy to announce that NWMA had received the funds as they are “always looking to help people in the community.”

The Oomph loyalty scheme has now given away more than £90,000 to groups and charities up and down the UK.
NWMA was one of 10 groups to receive a cash boost on behalf of their local

Gulf garage during the latest round of money handed out.

Jessica Lilley, retail marketing manager, added: “The positive impact of Oomph as a force for good can be seen by all. 

“The NWMA is a local and grass root association that we are happy we can support. We know that £1,000 can make a real difference.”