AN old industrial site at Church became a battlefield for the filming of a new drama about the horrors of war.

Accrington and Rossendale College students James Emmett, 20, and Martin Peacock, 40, are producing a 15-minute film called King and Country.

Preliminary shots were done at the old coke ovens at Church and filming continues throughout this week at Hutchbank Quarry, Haslingden.

Writer/director Martin, of Westwood Street, Accrington, and producer/director James, of Sunnybank Street, Haslingden, are both BTEC second year students on a media production course at the Rawtenstall centre of the college. King and Country is the pair's first film.

It focuses on one old soldier's memories of the First World War Armistice, when, wounded by shrapnel, he was rescued from a shellhole by stretcher bearers. Ward Croasdale, from Higherford in Pendle, is playing the lead role of wounded soldier Percy. Gary Wilson and Glen Hawthorne from Burnley Amateur Dramatic Society play the stretcher bearers.

Accrington Pals Association helped with research for the film, which will be professionally edited and marketed to independent distributors.

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