Visitors to Lidget Street in Lindley will soon be seeing a number of blue plaques appearing in windows along the village’s main shopping thoroughfare.

The idea is the brainchild of Lindley History Research Group as part of its Then and Now Heritage Lottery-supported project looking back at life in the village during World War One.

Member Dave Verguson says that while Lidget Street has changed considerably since 1915, “interestingly many of the same sorts of shops – butchers, hairdressers, a grocer, a newsagent – continue. Some like the chemist are even in the same building”.

More detailed information on each of the buildings included in the blue plaque scheme and the people who lived there will be provided in the group’s Lindley Then and Now commemorative weekend which takes place on April 25 and 26 and includes guided walks along Lidget Street.

However, the starting point for that weekend’s events and activities will be an exhibition at St Stephen’s Church looking at life in the Lindley area 100 years ago and how this was affected by the experience of war.

The memorials still to be found in its churches and chapels show that at least 160 Lindley men died as a result of the war and their stories form an important part of the exhibition.

Members could not believe their luck when they came across Peter Fawcett’s history of hand-bell ringing, Ringing for Gold, and found it contained a photograph of the Lindley Parish Church Hand-Bell Ringers in 1907.

The band members shown in the picture were all young men and would most likely have enlisted or have been called up at some point during the First World War.

Rachel Firth, Vicar of Lindley, said: “St Stephen’s holds a lot of history for families in this area and from far and wide too.

“What is wonderful about this project is that we can see the heritage links right across the community here in Lindley and hear, see and experience something of the lives of Lindley’s ancestors.”

Lindley Parish Church Hand-Bell Ringers 1907