Play to honour town's last WW2 fallen soldier

The Nicholson Memorial in Leek stands as a tribute to lives lost in war

A new play is being staged to commemorate the last soldier from a town to die in combat in World War Two.

A True British Soldier will premiere at St Paul's Community Church on Novi Lane in Leek, Staffordshire, on 9 August.

The production will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the death of Frank Hammersley, who died in Burma aged 20, just days before the Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945.

It follows him in his younger years and traces his relationship with his father.

Mr Hammersley's name is etched onto the Nicholson War Memorial in Leek, which is now in its centenary year.

The play has been written and directed by local playwright Martha Callaghan and was inspired by councillor Bill Cawley as a tribute to the 535 men from Leek who lost their lives in both world wars.

'Loss and love'

"This is not just Frank's story," said Ms Callaghan. "It's the story of thousands. Of fathers and sons, of towns burdened by war, of loss and love passed between generations.

"It's also a love letter to the town and a nod to the monument as a founding stone to the culture of contemporary Leek."

Frank Hammersley, who was known as a pub singer, stands as an "everyman", she said, as a symbol of duty, resilience, and the cost of war on families and towns like Leek.

Mr Hammersley's father, also named Frank, was a survivor of World War One who fought at Mons in Belgium in 1914 and spent four years in a German prisoner of war camp.

"Above all [the play] is an opportunity to mark the courage and commitment to hardship and struggle that communities like Haregate in the town and elsewhere in the Moorlands contributed to victory against tyranny around the world," said Cawley.

The national commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) and the end of the Second World War on 15 August will be held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire.