RETIRED head teacher John Knowles tells the stories of the 65 men from Lostock who were killed in The First World War in a new book.

The Lost Boys of Lostock is the culmination of five years of meticulous research, including visits to the battlefields of France and Belgium.

The idea for the 150-page book, which features numerous photographs, followed a chance sighting by John, 75, as he went for a routine hair cut to Longworth’s in Station Road, Lostock Gralam.

On his way out he glanced at the Memorial Cross in the parish churchyard and recognised a Commonwealth War Graves headstone.

The sighting set him off on a quest spanning five years and culminating in the publication of The Lost Boys of Lostock, with profits from the sale of the book going to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

John examined a multitude of military records and unearthed the lives of those who died and the suffering of their families, such as the Connollys of Brook Street, who lost three sons, the Deakins of Ann Street, the Southerns of School Lane and the Millers of Station Road.

Thirteen men from Manchester Road were killed alone, and there is a moving account of three young emigrants who went from Lostock to Canada and returned, at the call of arms, and paid with their lives.

“The Connollys’ story especially inspired me, but they were just three of so many, and I wanted to try and ensure the sacrifice of all these men will never be forgotten and that we should all be ever grateful,” said John, from Lostock Green.

“In the first dozen years of the 20th century these young men had represented the future of Lostock Gralam – but those futures were to be truncated by the bloodiest carnage man had ever experienced.”

John is a Mancunian, whose father was a prisoner in the German Stalags during The Second World War.

He spent 20 years as head of New Wellington High School, Timperley, and moved to Lostock Green upon retirement in 1995.

He obtained a great deal of information for the book from the Northwich Guardian. The Lost Boys of Lostock is available, price £12.50, from CC Publishing’s website, cc-publishing.co.uk, and various local outlets.