A MALPAS historian has begun the commemorations to mark the 100-year anniversary of the end of the First World War by re-issuing a book on the role the village played in the war.

David Haynes has re-released his copy of 'Malpas and The Great War 1914-18', which was originally published in 1993 to mark 75 years since the war ended.

The 44-page booklet, illustrated with 16 black and white photographs, was researched through local newspapers, official archive sources, and through interviews with a number of Malpas residents who were alive during the war.

David said: "Sadly all of them, including Les Boughey, Ben White and John Cornes, have died since 1993.

"It starts with a facsimile of the entry for Malpas from Kelly’s 1914 Cheshire Directory, which gives an idea of the make-up of the town at the beginning of the war.

"The book has short chapters on the town’s response to the call to arms; local recruiting for the army, including the military tribunals and the introduction of compulsory conscription.

"It also discusses the establishment of the voluntary Red Cross hospital at ‘The Bolling’ (now re-named ‘The Lower Rectory’) as well as the arrival of two families of Belgian refugees early in the war."

David added the book also includes the town’s contributions to the war effort, such as the local effects of the Defence of the Realm Act; women working on the land, including the arrival of the first ‘Land Girls’; the first tractors to be seen on Malpas farms; local effects of military action.

With 'Aussie Flu' recently in the news in the UK, David also discusses the ‘sting in the tail’ of the war which was caused by the devastating Spanish Influenza outbreak.

This hit Malpas in October 1918 but the village returned to some sort of normality after the war ended officially in 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th month.

Priced at £3.50, the book is available from N & J Owen (Malpas Post Office) or from the author at: Stoke Cottage, Church Street, Malpas, Cheshire SY14 8PD

Or on 01948 860486; davidhayns.123@btinternet.com. For orders by post, please add £1.50 to cover postage and packing.