Exclusive:Generous Hearts fans restore graves of Tynecastle legends and a McCrae's Battalion war hero

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Repair work has taken place in Edinburgh’s North Merchiston Cemetery

Generous Hearts fans have rebuilt graves of club legends with funding and restoration work at Edinburgh’s North Merchiston Cemetery. Members of the freemasons group Lodge Heart of Midlothian 832 repaired a number of headstones of former players, managers and staff dating back to the early 1900s.

Among them is James Speedie, the winger who lost his life aged 21 after becoming the first Hearts player to enlist for service during World War I and whose body was never recovered. The Hearts manager at that time, John McCartney, famously lost his entire team to McCrae’s Battalion. He also had his gravestone regenerated along with William CP Brown, the club’s former chairman.

JAMES SPEEDIE (before and after)

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Lodge Heart of Midlothian

The project was organised prior to Hearts’ announcement of the Maroon Mile between Gorgie and Haymarket in Edinburgh. It was undertaken largely by Lodge Heart of Midlothian members Rab Currie and Colin Shearer, with help from Paul Smyth of the Hearts Heritage group. All three worked tirelessly at the cemetery, which sits just yards from Tynecastle Park.

They restored the Hood family headstone as the Lodge’s founding member, John Hood, saw his son, James, killed in 1917 at the Battle of Arras, and is named on the headstone. They also tend to graves belonging to Tom Purdie, Hearts’ first captain, and legendary forward Bobby Walker.

Additionally, the Lodge have funded a memorial stone for Sandy Lyon, the assistant trainer at Tynecastle who worked alongside McCartney. He was not killed in action and the club paid for his plot and funeral but, until now, he did not have a memorial stone.

JOHN McCARTNEY (before and after)

Lodge Heart of Midlothian

A spokesperson for Lodge Heart of Midlothian told the Edinburgh News: “We've been working closely with the community and the football club, picking up on some of the historic links and connections. This has included funding [via £15,000 over three years] the Big Hearts memories project, supporting older people to share fond memories in a welcoming environment.

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“We're also part of the official party annually at Haymarket and lay a wreath alongside other club and community dignitaries. We're very proud of our history and its’ intertwined connection with Gorgie, Dalry and Heart of Midlothian Football club.

WILLIAM CP BROWN (before and after)

Lodge Heart of Midlothian

“Past members include notable players such as Tom Purdie [Hearts first ever captain and a member of their Hall of Fame], WCP Brown [founding member of the lodge and a past Hearts chairman], Harry Rennie [goalkeeper for Hibs, Hearts and a Scotland international who the Scottish Cup with Hibs in 1902 and became a lodge member during his time there], Alex Massie [immortalised in the famous Hearts song], and Charles Thomson [Hearts and Sunderland - captained both as well as Scotland].

“Perhaps most famously of all, Bobby Walker [who was the subject of a recent play and whose grave we tend to in Gorgie cemetery].”

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