THE historic Jewish corner of Greenock Cemetery is to be restored in tribute to those laid to rest there - including people who fled from tyranny in other parts of the world.

A one man fundraising campaign was launched by Sammy Stein, the chairman of Glasgow Friends of Israel, five years ago after a chance meeting with a Greenock man.

He decided to pay his own respects to the 15 souls buried in the long forgotten plots by raising money for their upkeep.

Councillor Francesca Brennan and burial grounds supervisor Stephen Fulton were moved by his bid and stepped in to support his plans.

Work is due to start next month, with a re-dedication service to follow attended by families of those buried at the site.

Sammy said: "It is rare to have a Jewish section of a cemetery somewhere like Greenock.

"They are mostly in Glasgow.

"There is no Jewish community here in Greenock now and in fact the Jewish community in Scotland is getting smaller and older, many of our younger generation have moved away.

"We once had around 15,000 here in Scotland but now that is only 4,000, with only two synagogues to be left in Glasgow.

"I met Ross Ahlfeld from Greenock five years ago at our stall in Glasgow and he was passing by - he told me about the Jewish section of the cemetery down here.

"I had no idea, came to visit and I wanted to do something to mark it.

"I would very much like to thank Councillor Francesca Brennan, Inverclyde Council and Stephen from the cemetery, who I have worked closely with.

"We are planning to put a memorial plaque there to mark all those buried in Greenock as there are only seven headstones."

Through the Hebrew Burial Society, Community Trust, Netherlee and Clarkston Charitable Trust and Queen's Park Charitable Trust Mr Stein has raised £7,500 to fund landscaping, new grass, stones, kerbs to stop cars driving on the ground and a surround.

Thanks to the partnership with the council, the In-Work Enterprise team at Broomhill Gardens, who specialise in horticulture and landscape services, are also involved.

Councillor Brennan added: "I'd like to pay tribute to Sammy Stein and all the work he has done.

"We are very proud of our cemetery and it is important that we recognise the Jewish section."

Sammy, 76, who was born in Israel to Hungarian parents, moved to Scotland in the 1950s.

He said: "At the rededication ceremony I hope to have family members of those buried who are there and I have already been in touch with at least three families."

The Jewish burials in the Greenock Cemetery took place between 1908 and 1945, including a stillborn child and a day-old baby who both died in 1908.

During a tour of the cemetery last year by the War Graves Commission, the Tele was told by public engagement officer Sehar Sadar about Joe Freedman, a Jewish man who was killed in the First World War.

He also lost his three brothers in the conflict and was laid to rest along with family in the Jewish section.

His family had come from Poland to escape persecution in the 1800s.

One of the most prominent members of the Jewish community was Henri Temianka, the virtuoso violinist and conductor who emigrated to America, where he founded the Paganini String Quartet and the California Chamber Symphony Orchestra.

His family have maintained close links with Greenock, recently donating money to the town's Watt Institution.

Greenock Cemetery is also the final resting place of nearly 300 First and Second World War heroes with those graves tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.