THANKS to pain-staking care and restoration, Greenacres Congregational Church can once again truly honour and commemorate the centenary sacrifice of their fallen First World War heroes.

A montage featuring 22 men from the church who died in the Great War - many of whom served with the Oldham Pals battalion - has found a permanent resting place in the Galland Street church after it was saved and returned to its former glory by Blue Bell Picture Framing, in Shaw.

The striking images were the focal point of the church's Remembrance Sunday service as the congregation paid tribute to the soldiers from their fellowship - some of who sadly lost their lives in what is described as the church's darkest day during the campaign when three men from the congregation were killed on April 23 1917.

To add even more poignancy, a relative of two of the men still attends the church.

Gordon Bell, aged 81, is the nephew of soldier John Bell and was married to the niece of comrade Henry Dobson.

The framed tribute originally hung in the church's men's institute and would have been seen by countless people playing snooker and billiards.

It was removed when the church was extensively renovated due to dry rot around 25 years ago but unearthed from a store room by secretary, Joy Dean, and treasurer, Margaret Fowler, last year after Chadderton Historical Society asked if they could visit for their WWI research.

They discovered the frame and mountings had suffered serious water damage and were urged to have it restored.

It took many months to repair and was then passed on to Rev Liz Dean, of Springhead Congregational Church, who used her calligraphy skills to hand write the names and verse in italic.

Although the names of the fallen soldiers are listed on a plaque in the church the montage now also gives them visual recognition once again.

"We felt it should hang in the church because we should not forget these men," said Joy.

"It is nice to put a face to a name.

"Blue Bell Framing have done an absolutely magnificent job. We thought it would cost hundreds but they charged us very little."

Dennis Broadbent, a partner at Blue Bell Picture Framing, in Market Street, Shaw said it was a very special commission which deserved lots of care and attention.

"The reason it took a long time was that the original photographs were stuck on card with glue and it was hard to get them off," said Dennis.

"We had to do it slowly, but surely, and it was very time consuming.

"It was very interesting work.

"Normally with a framing job you look at it for a minute or two but because of what it was, each photograph took about an hour to remove and you had time to look at each person and really study them. It made you realise how young they were. You could see in their faces how proud they were to be soldiers but they were just lads really.

"Because it was for the church I just wanted to give a bit back and it because it was a memorial to these people it's very special. Hopefully my work will last another 100 years."

The soldiers were part of a Pioneer Corps who, in November 1917, were moved from their trench-building and road-laying duties in north west France to north east Italy, where they were needed to help Italian troops resist an attack by Austrian forces.

Anyone interested in viewing the montage can contact minister, Rev David Lampard, on 0161 624 6337 or Joy on 0161 785 0638.