The towns of east Lancashire in North-West England were among the worst hit by the massive loss of life on the first day of the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago. The Mayor of Accrington, a small textile town, had volunteered to form a battalion of 1,000 local men to help England’s war effort in 1914. Men from neighbouring Burnley and Chorley completed the new battalion, which became known as the Accrington Pals because friends, neighbours and workmates had all joined up to fight together.