A memorial stone to commemorate those who lost their lives during the Russian convoys of the Second World War has been donated by a Bradford man.

Former submariner Thomas Topham MBE, of Montserrat Road, Tong, donated the three-ton, 7ft-high Yorkshire stone for the memorial at Loch Ewe, Scotland, in memory of the 3,000 seamen who perished.

He arranged for it to be engraved by Albert Pedder of Bankfoot, Bradford, and had it transported to Scotland from where the convoys sailed.

And the stone is due to be unveiled at a moving ceremony later this month when the head of a Scottish Clan will attend with his piper.

The idea for the memorial came from the President of the Russian Convoy Club Bob Allan of Lincoln.

Mr Allan, who served on Russian Convoys during 1942 and 1943, formed the club in 1987 to reunite those who took part in the convoys.

From the German invasion of Russia in June 1941 until the end of the war in 1945 the allies shipped arms and ammunition to Russia which helped with the defeat of Hitler's forces. Dozens of merchantmen and naval ships were sunk by U-boats and enemy aircraft.

The Club, whose patron is Sir Ludovic Kennedy, has members from the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and Royal Air Force. Vice-chairman of the Bradford Naval Association Don Marshall introduced Mr Topham, 68, to Mr Allan.

Mr Allan said: "This memorial is very important.

"It is a wonderful gesture by Tommy. He has erected a number of memorials and done a lot of good work."

Mr Topham, who owns the Park Spring Quarry Company, Halifax, has donated stone to many ex-service memorials including that outside the HMS Dolphin submarine museum at Gosport.

Mr Topham served in submarines for six years in the early 1950s and is now president of the West Riding Submariners Association.

He was rewarded for his efforts in 1998 when he received an MBE for his services to the Association over the years.

Those attending the unveiling of the memorial at midday on Saturday, September 11, will include Bob Allan and Thomas Topham alongside the Russian Ambassador and a Norwegian representative.

The wording of the engraving on the stone is:

In memory of our shipmates who sailed from Loch Ewe during World War II. They lost their lives in the bitter Arctic Sea Battles to North Russia and never returned to this tranquil anchorage. We will always remember them.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.