Preston Pals

[1] To aid this scheme, he encouraged local councils to establish what became known as Pals battalions, made up of groups of friends and neighbours who were keen to fight alongside each other, rather than being individually assigned to regular army regiments.

The men were medically examined at the Public Hall, and on 7 September 1914, the Pals paraded before an enthusiastic and patriotic crowd in the Market Place before marching along Fishergate to the railway station and leaving the town for their training.

In September 1915, exactly twelve months after their formation, the Preston Pals took a minor part in the Battle of Loos, and received their first casualties.

The losses were reported by the Preston Guardian and the Lancashire Daily Post, with each soldier's obituary accompanied by details of his school and church associations, the firm he worked for before enlistment, and the football or cricket teams he had played with.

During August and September 1916, the Battalion served in the Flanders sector, only to return to the Somme again as the battle entered its final phase.

The first officer of the Preston Pals to be killed in action, in February 1916, was Lieutenant Maurice Bannister, son of the vicar of St George's Church.

Corporal Frank Wood, of Connaught Road, Broadgate, was the first member of Orchard Methodist Church to become a casualty in the war.