A LOVE of old photographs has culminated in an Oxenhope woman completing a book about how her village was affected by the First World War.

Norma Mackrell's book – Oxenhope in the Great War – which also includes a chapter by Oxenhope-born Addingham resident Catherine Snape, is being published this summer.

Any profits from the paperback will be donated to Manorlands hospice.

Mrs Mackrell, who was born in Oxenhope and has a keen interest in local history, began compiling the book's material 25 years ago.

But she said that when she first started her research she had no particular plans to bring out a book.

"I'd started off collecting old photographs and as I did so I began wanting to know more about the people in them," she said.

"The book paints a picture of Oxenhope as it was at the start of the 20th century, when it had over 100 farms, many mills and 30 odd shops. It was a very different life then.

"There is a list of all the men I've found out about who served in the war – over 370 names, including many common local names like Feather, Greenwood and Holmes.

"Fifty-four people from Oxenhope, or who had strong connections to Oxenhope died in the war.

"There was talk about building a war memorial in the village but nothing ever came of it. Instead there is a plaque with the names of those who died in Oxenhope's parish church."

She said the book features topics such as the fundraising for the war effort that went on in the village, the local defence force service carried out by Oxenhope men too old for the regular armed forces and the hosting of refugee Belgian families who had fled the German advance into their country.

She said archived copies of the Keighley News had proved extremely useful for gleaning information about life on the home front between 1914 and 1918.

"The book is about 600 pages long and includes 400 photographs," she added. "Some of these photos would be very difficult to get hold of today, so it's good that they've been saved.

"I wanted to include as much detail as I could. Thanks to the Internet there is a lot more material available now than when I first started researching."

This is Mrs Mackrell's second book. She has previously teamed up with her sister Dorinda Kinghorn to complete a work about Oxenhope's Lowertown Old Burial Ground.

Commenting last week, (June 15) Mrs Mackrell said Oxenhope in the Great War was in the process of being printed and will be published by Warwickshire-based FeedARead.com

Copies of the book will be available to buy from the publisher's website.