A Bradford cricket club unveiled a special memorial today to one of the few Bradford Pals who survived the Battle of the Somme.

Fred Rawnsley was one of only 227 members of the district's 2,000-strong Pals division to live through the first days of trench warfare that began on July 1, 1916.

A keen cricketer from East Bierley, Mr Rawnsley kept a vivid diary of his experiences during the First World War and later became president of the Bradford Pals' Comradeship Association.

He was an honorary member and vice-president of East Bierley Cricket Club, and left a £500 legacy to the club in his will.

After his death in 1981, Ronnie Ellis, one of the current vice-presidents, decided the club should do something in his honour - and hit upon the idea of an honours board.

Mr Ellis explained: "I liked Fred, he was a man of discernment and an esteemed vice president, and the money he left the club helped spur us on to a successful spell.

"We've wanted to do something in his honour for a while so I decided to research the names of former members, dating right back to 1895, for a board we could dedicate to him."

Mr Rawnsley was on reserve at the village of Bus-les-Artois, by the River Somme, when his fellow Pals were mown down as they went over the top at Serre on July 1, 1916.

In his leather-bound diary entry for the day before, he wrote: "Battalions set off in good spirits. Wished I was going with them."

By noon the next day he had been told the terrible outcome of the first push, which saw 1,777 of the 16th and 18th battalions, West Yorkshire Regiment, obliterated.

His diary read: "Wounded commenced to struggle through. Heartrending sight.

"Pals badly smashed up. Thank God I have not taken part in it."

More than one million soldiers were injured or killed on the fields of Picardy by the time the battle drew to its bloody end in November, 1916.

Mr Ellis will be accompanied by past and present club members and Mr Rawnsley's nephew, Ronnie Ibson, for the official unveiling of the memorial tonight.

A retired educational psychologist, Mr Ellis said he was confident of a good turn- out.

"We're hoping former players will come along and join in this historic occasion," he said.