They left the looms of a Longwood textile mill to fight for king and country.

The 192 workers from Joseph Hoyle’s woollen mill who served during the First World War are commemorated at Longwood Mechanics Hall with a wooden plaque bearing their names. Sixteen of them never returned home, having been listed as killed or missing.

Now members of Longwood Village Group have launched an appeal to raise almost £1,000 to have the memorial board professionally cleaned, refurbished and re-installed after it was taken down when then hall was being redecorated.

They are asking individuals, families and local businesses to raise the money by “sponsoring” one of the names that appear on the board for between £1 to £5.

A large poster has been set up in the hall at Longwood Gate where sponsors can make their pledge and write their names. The names of those Joseph Hoyle employees who did not come back from the war are marked with a star on the poster.

Christine Collier, Longwood Village Group committee member, said: “Before replacing the roll of honour board, we decided it needed specialist cleaning. That is going to cost in the region of £1,000.”

The appeal was launched at a coffee morning held at the hall.

Christine said members were now researching online to find the service history of all 192 men – and particularly the details of those men listed as missing or killed. She appealed for anyone who may have any connection to or information on any of the men to get in touch.

Longwood Mechanics Hall feature.

The 16 who lost their lives were: Frank Booth, Leonard Buckley, Fred Crowther, Alfred William Harrold, Herbert Holland, Haigh Iredale, Arthur Lister, Edward Lovick, Wilfred Nutton, Joe Pilling, Albert Riley, Fred Senior, Charlie Shaw, Wilfred Smith, Leonard Sowden and Jack Tomlinson.

Christine said Longwood Mechanics Hall was also planning celebratory events to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War and would provide further details in due course on notice boards, posters and online at www.longwoodvillagegroup.webs.uk .

The coffee morning also included a presentation to participants on using an automatic external defibrillator which is to be mounted on the outside wall of the building.

Textile boss Joseph Hoyle was born in the Outlane/Longwood area in 1843 and founded his business in 1865. Joseph Hoyle & Son, based at Prospect Mills, grew to employ many hundreds of people. The company was employing about 100 people when it went out of business in 1996.