VISITORS to Colne could be forgiven for thinking they have been transported back to 1914 after dozens of old posters have appeared across the town centre.

The reproductions of original recruitment posters range from the jocular ‘Say, you’d look good in khaki’, to the more sinister ‘There are some who hear the call and obey, there are some who delay and there are the others… which are you?’

Colne Town Council sought permission from the Imperial War Museum to use the posters, while Outline Print Service, in Colne, printed them out as part of the town's First World War commemorations.

Coun Dorothy Lord, chair of the town council’s events committee, said: “We are attempting to recreate the feel our town had 100 years ago.

“In those days, without television or the internet, or even radio, posters were the number one way of communicating, apart from newspapers like the Lancashire Telegraph, of course.

“All of this is prior to the biggest event we have ever staged, Colne Commemorates the Great War, on Saturday August, 2.”

On the day, The Gables, behind the war memorial, will host a re-creation of an authentic recruitment hall. Every hour, new recruits will be sought and put through their paces by ‘Tommies’ from Lancashire Museums Service.

In keeping with the real recruitment events of the time, there will be dancing and the singing of patriotic songs designed to encourage men to sign up.

Amateur dramatic groups will flood the town with century-old memories at indoor and outdoor venues all over Colne throughout the day.

The day formally begins with a veterans’ and cadets’ parade which will form up at the British Legion at 9.45am and march with Accrington Pipe Band to Colne’s war memorial, where a short service will be held.

In addition, The Little Theatre will be taken over all day as a venue for short talks and films about The Great War, whilst The Hippodrome will be requisitioned as a trench experience and medical clearing station.

More details are available from the town council’s website at www.colnetowncouncil.org.uk.