BOYS and staff from Bury Grammar School have dedicated a plaque to the 97 former pupils who died in the First World War.

The dedication service was held at St George's Memorial Church in Ypres, Belgium, at the end of the school's tenth anniversary battlefields tour. The plaque was donated by the school's Parents' Association and the service was conducted by the Vicar of St Georges, the Rev Ray Jones.

St George's, the British Church in Ypres, is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its consecration this year and every item in the church is a memorial to an individual, regiment or organisation. During the service, pupils read out the stories of some of the old boys commemorated by the plaque, 24 of whom were killed in the Ypres area.

Bury Grammar School head of history, Mr Mark Hone said: "I have researched all 97 former pupils who died in the First World War and the 46 who died in the Second World War. As well as information from relatives, the archives of the Bury Times have proved invaluable as detailed obituaries of the local men who had died, together with photographs, were published.

"It is very sobering to see the gallery of faces issue after issue, each representing a lost brother, son or father. This information has enabled us to visit the graves or places of commemoration of many former pupils during the ten years we have been running the tours."

Mr Hone added: "I think that it is important for the pupils to realise that these were real people, often only a few years older than the boys on the tour them, when they were killed."

A special visit this year was to the grave of 1914 Bury Grammar School captain John Hartington. John, whose three brothers and three sisters attended Bury Grammar School, joined the Lancashire Fusiliers but was attached to the newly-formed Machine Gun Corps. He won the Military Cross for his gallantry at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 but was killed a year later when a British ammunition dump exploded during a German artillery barrage.

In a poignant ceremony at Lijssenthoek Cemetery, 2004 Bury Grammar School captain William Webster laid a special wreath on John's grave and also placed on the headstone the school captain's medallion of office. This dates from 1911 and is the same medallion that John Hartington himself wore.