REMEMBRANCE services at war memorials around the country were held last month, especially poignant for families who lost relatives in the First World War as this year is the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War.

But on a country road, not far from Bridgemere Garden World, near Nantwich, only a handful of people laid wreaths on an elegantly simple blue brick memorial built by local volunteers.

One of the six names inscribed on that memorial has special significance for Rochdalians, for it pays tribute to a 26-year-old Rochdale man, killed in 1944 with five other crew members when a Wellington bomber crashed into a farmer's field while on a final training mission.

Ronald Whiteley, had lived in Eden Street, off Mitchell Street, Spotland, but he had been brought up in Balderstone, having attended the local scout group there.

As a young man he had worked in a factory producing parts for aircraft and as the war entered its last phases he had joined up, being based at RAF Chipping Warden in Oxfordshire.

When his bomber, XHF 465, took off at 9.13am on that fateful Saturday in October 1944 Ronald was just a month away from starting bombing missions over Germany.

But this was to be his final flight.

In horrendous weather their Wellington disintegrated in midair with the main part of the fuselage falling at Prince Hill near the A51.

Little else would be known today about that fateful crew if it had not been for the research of a Nantwich historian, Derek Inskeep.

He managed to track down relatives of all those who died, slowly and meticulously putting together their stories.

These are now contained in his book, ‘Wings of White Linen’, which costs £19.99, package and postage free of charge, with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion.

In his foreword to the book, Mr Inskeep writes: "Not having myself served in the armed forces, though always having a sense of gratitude for those who have and still serve their country, was the reason the Prince Hill Memorial at Bridgemere came into being.

"Being present when a grandmother took the time to show her grandchildren the memorial, reading to them the names and ages of the air crew ending with their epitaph, I thought they gave their tomorrows for our today."

The Prince Hill Memorial, deep in rural Cheshire, remembers those who gave their lives to the war, but not in battle.

Men like Ronald Whiteley of Rochdale.