A WALK next month will follow in the footsteps of a company of Chorley soldiers who went off to fight in the First World War.

When war was declared, local men in the Territorial Force left the town, ready to serve in France and Belgium.

More than 200 men formed D Company of the 1st / 4th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and were known as the ‘Chorley Terriers’.

These part-time soldiers used to spend a week each year at a training camp, but when war was declared on August 4, 1914, they were immediately recalled from Kirby Lonsdale.

Two days later, they departed the drill hall on Devonshire Road and marched the 10 miles to Fulwood Barracks to await orders.

Now, the Chorley Remembers project is to replicate the walk exactly 100 years later.

It will set off, again from the drill hall, at 10.30am and follow the A6 to Bamber Bridge and on to Fulwood.

Back in 1914, the local newspaper covered the story, recording that the men’s relatives walked with them to the boundary of the borough with Whittle-le-Woods and that their Commanding Officer, Major Hindle, led them on his horse.

Chorley Remembers project manager, local First World WAr historian Steve Williams, is using the walk to raise funds and has already collected £200 in sponsorship.

Details and a sponsorship form can be found on www.chorleyremembers.org.uk or by calling 0845 467 1916. Donations can also be made at any branch of the Chorley Building Society.

Project chairman, Lindsay Hoyle MP said: “We remember the Chorley Pals, so it is only right that we remember the Terriers, whose story is not as well known, yet they suffered tremendous losses during the war.”

The Terriers landed in France in May 1915 and many were killed or wounded at the Battle of Festubert on May 15 that year – many of them do not have known graves.

Next June a number of local groups and schools will be commemorating the Terriers and their sacrifice at Festubert, with several exhibitions, including one in Chorley, planned for the summer.