We asked for your First World War stories and here’s one from retired gamekeeper James Lawson.
He’s now 86 and recalls working on the Farnley estate with part-time gamekeeper Ben Woodhouse in the 1940s and 50s.
Ben had served in the Royal Observer Corps above the trenches and after the war ran the post office and shop in Farnley which used to be opposite the Farnley Cock pub.
But James, of Almondbury, reveals that Ben was incredibly lucky to survive the war.
He said: “Ben told me that one day there were six Observer balloons up in the air when a German plane attacked them. He shot down five and then turned around and came at the last one which had Ben in it, but he did not fire.
“Ben can only presume the pilot was out of ammunition and that he was a very lucky man.”
