A MEMORIAL service was held at the site of a crash which killed an entire aircraft crew on the night and early morning of November 15 and November 16 1943.

Each year people gather to remember the brave men who lost their lives on the moors high above Bolton.

On that dark November night Wellington Bomber (Z8799) and its crew of six men took off from their Wymeswold, Leicestershire base at just before 10pm.

It was part of number 28 Operational Training Unit and was flying a night time training cross country exercise on its way to Manchester, an article by Stuart Clewlow explains in this month's Rotary Club of Horwich magazine.

Part way through the flight it is believed a deadly build-up of ice had formed on the airframe and control was lost, with devastating consequences for all on board.

The plane would suddenly enter a frighteningly steep, high speed dive and would break up.

Sadly the plane and its crew was lost that night and the wreckage scattered far and wide over a large area of Anglezarke Moor.

A Royal Observer Corps member who was posted in Chorley reported having heard a loud crash and he was the one who alerted and directed rescuers to a possible area of impact.

On the scene as one of the first rescuers was the Police War Reserve Constable C H Swift.

In the early hours of November 16 he had heard the drone of the stricken aircraft and saw it fly just 200 to 300 feet above his head in Chorley.

He led a team of six in search of the Wellington but by around 8am on November 16, 1943 they found the majority of the plane on its back and the crew lying close by. Unsurprisingly there would be no survivors.

But these men would not be forgotten and in June 1955 the Rotary Club of Horwich erected a memorial some distance from the site where the majority of the wreckage of the bomber came down.

The memorial is a large stone pillar (which was, previously, a gate post) and although bearing an incorrect date of the crash it, most importantly, lists the names of the crew killed.

The Rev David Dick, President of Rotary International, performed the dedication ceremony and the memorial was unveiled by Wing Commander B A Dias of RAF Padgate.

There is no visible evidence of the tragedy today although the crew of the Wellington are by no means forgotten.

"Memorial services take place, near the site, every year and a larger than normal ceremony took place on the 50th anniversary of the accident in 1993.

Wreaths continue to be placed there and an additional brass plaque, in memory of Pilot Joe Timperon, was placed on behalf of his family on November 2003.

The crew of the Wellington bomber were Flight Sgt Joseph Banks Timperon, who lived in South Australia and is buried in Chester, Sgt Eric Barnes who was the co-pilot and is from and buried in Nottingham, Sgt Joseph Hayton who was the wireless operator and is from Whitehaven, Sgt Robert Jackson who was an air gunner and buried in Wandsworth, Sgt George Murray who was an observer and from South Shields. Sgt Matthew Mouncey was a Leeds born air gunner.

Keith Miller was probably the best Australian all-round cricketer of all time and he was a friend of the Australian pilot Joe Timperon.

"The Timperon family knew that the Rotary Club of Horwich had erected the memorial so when Keith was playing in a test match he contacted the Rotary Club and asked if he could be taken to the site.

"I am told that the Timperon family also arranged for a small plaque to be put up in Rivington Church," explains Ted Wisedale from the Rotary Club of Horwich.

So if you are walking up on the moors and come across the memorial perhaps give a thought for the brave men who lost their lives on that cold November night just as the Rotary Club of Horwich do each and every year.