Two Keighley district army veterans have clubbed together to provide their military association with its own standard for the first time.

Peter Faulkner, from Ingrow, and Charlie Lowndes, of Haworth, are both members of the Palestine Veterans Association.

Mr Faulkner, 86, who is also president of Keighley Royal British Legion, said the association now had more than 1,200 members, so he decided it would make sense for it to have its own banner which could be carried during parades.

He said he and Mr Lowndes provided most of the cash needed to have the standard made by a Knaresborough-based firm called Flying Colours.

The Palestine Veterans Association holds its main reunion meeting each October at Eden Camp Modern History Theme Museum, in Malton.

Mr Faulkner said he had been attending the event for at least ten years.

He joined the army in 1944 and served in Palestine as a military policeman from 1946 to 1948. “It was a guerrilla war - and we were caught in the middle between the Arabs and Jews,” he said. “My job was close protection, which involved guarding staff officers.”

Mr Lowndes served in the same region, as a cook attached to the Royal Horse Artillery.