PUPILS at a primary school in Rishton have presented a short First World War drama at Blackburn Cathedral to commemorate those who fought in the conflict.

St Charles' RC Primary School performed their play 'Born a Northerner: Died a Soldier', which was written by members of the school's history club.

Joanna Troughton, year four teacher and history coordinator, organised the production, and was delighted with the end result.

She said: "I was very happy, the audience were moved, there were people in tears.

"It was very poignant and moving."

Original memoirs, letters and newspapers from the era were used by the school to imagine what life might have been like for young men and their families during the conflict.

The school was indebted to the family of Joseph Turner, a real life soldier, who was also a character in the play, who lent the transcription of a diary kept by his father.

Pupils were particularly excited when they discovered a number of their classmates involved were related to wartime members of the famous volunteer battalion 'Accrington Pals.'

The first major action for the Pals was entering The Battle of the Somme, which celebrates its centenary on July 1, but they suffered devastating losses as 60 per cent of all officers involved were killed on the first day.

Blackburn Cathedral hosted the school drama as part of their commemorations for the occasion, and Mrs Troughton believes the opportunity the children received to perform on this stage was wonderful.

She said: "Being in the cathedral was just an incredible experience, the children grasped the importance of it well.

"The performance was great, it had quite a lot of humour and light hearted moments as well as the more serious moments."

The schools enthusiastic historians in year four five and six were encouraged to get involved with the play after researching their links to the war as part of their school studies.

They were then delighted to receive an invitation from Joanna Booth, the education officer at Blackburn Cathedral, to contribute to their ongoing centenary First World War commemorations.

Canon Sacrist at Blackburn Cathedral Andrew Hindley was delighted with the drama, and believes that it is important that children are educated about what happened in the First World War.

He said: "It was extremely moving and well put together, we were very pleased with how the performance went.

"We're four generations away from the war now, so it's very important we educate people about what happened."