FORMER Herald feature writer Anne Johnstone has received an award from the The British Association for Local History in recognition of her work tracing the stories of men named on her village's First World War memorial.

Anne used her skills to lead a voluntary community project in Strathblane, Stirlingshire, which uncovered the details of the 27 men from the area who gave their lives during the conflict with Germany.

As well as penning some of the stories herself, she encouraged others to take part researching and writing, and provided advice and support to her co-authors, many of whom had no experience in a project of this type.

The biographies were then compiled in the book 'A Village Remembers', which was published last year with the profits going to Erskine veterans home.

Writing last year, Anne said: "As a journalist working in Scotland for 35 years, I have noticed that the trauma of the First World War seems to have had a far greater impact on the collective psyche than the Second.

"Almost every person one interviews has a family horror story about what some still call "the Great War".

"The group was brought together by an extraordinary initiative that from modest beginnings has grown into a book about the brief lives and dreadful deaths of all 27 men on the memorial who were killed in the First World War. And through them, it tells the story of both the war and the changing nature of the community - and the country - whence they came."

Anne, who grew up in Dorset, has lived in Stirlingshire since 1978 and worked for The Herald's features desk after graduating from Oxford, ultimately as chief leader writer.

The Association's award is for personal achievement in services to local history, and is presented annually.