A CASSETTE recording of one of the original Chorley Pals, who survived the attack at Serre on the Somme on the July 1, 1916, has been found in the collection of Chorley Pals historian John Garwood.
He recorded Lance Corporal James Snailham from Whittle-le-Woods in Chorley back in April 1984.
James Snailham joined up in 1914, aged 15, and was wounded several times on that day in July, 98 years ago – crawling back across No Man’s Land after 12 hours.
The hour-long recording revealed some facts never heard before about the attack on Serre, as well as about Private Snailham’s Army career and return to civilian life in 1919.
After the war, he had a trial for Preston North End but, as he put it, “‘the war took the guts out of me’.
James was the last surviving Chorley Pal, passing away in 1991.
The tape is being re-recorded to digital format and will go in the Chorley Pals Memorial collection, with a copy being offered to the Imperial War Museum along with the recordings of two Accrington Pals, also made by Mr Garwood in 1984.
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