THE Saltaire History Club will commemorate the centenary of the start of World War One by publishing a diary of events as they would have happened in the village exactly 100 years ago.

Local historian Colin Coates will publish the diary on the Saltaire Village website starting on Friday.

The website also features a World War One roll of honour listing soldiers from the village involved in the conflict.

Mr Coates' research has so far found that 129 men from Saltaire gave their lives in serving their country, with a further 450 surviving the war.

Through poring over ancestry websites, Commonwealth Graves records and copies of the Shipley Times, Mr Coates is gradually building a vivid picture of Saltaire’s war history, and biographies of all the soldiers will eventually feature on the site.

"We've had some very positive feedback on the project, and obviously there's a huge surge of interest at the moment," he said.

"Recently I was contacted by a medal collector in Sweden who had a medal from a soldier from Saltaire, and he sent us it and I've been able to return it to a relative here in the UK, along with information about her great uncle."

The Saltaire United Reform Church, on Victoria Road, will be open from 10am to 4pm today for World War One contemplation and prayer.