A MILITARY band concert will commemorate a Burnley war hero who died saving his pals in the Gallipoli trenches.

Lt Victor Smith was killed while serving with the East Lancashire Regiment when he threw himself on his own grenade to protect fellow officers and men in the trench.

The bravery of the former police acting inspector won him the Victoria Cross - one of only two ever awarded to Burnley servicemen - and a permanent place in the town's history.

His father, William Smith, chief constable of the Burnley force, donated a trophy in his memory, to go to serving Burnley policemen for bravery. It is still awarded today.

He was also remembered at St Catherine's Church, Burnley, where he had been a choirboy and Sunday school teacher and where churchgoers erected a marble memorial tribute. And on Friday November 14, Victor Smith's name will again be to the fore at St Catherine's when The King's Division Normandy Band will present a military band concert in his memory - part of the church's centenary celebrations. It starts at 7.30pm and admission is £2.

The band's senior officer, Capt Keith Hatton, will read the letter sent by Lt Smith's commanding officer to his father, notifying him of his son's brave death.

A Burnley police representative will lay a wreath at the memorial.

Fr Tony Dalton, who has organised the event, said: "The incident happened in Gallipoli on the day before Christmas Eve 1915.

"Lt Smith had primed a grenade but in the cold, wet and muddy conditions he dropped it. He shouted a warning and jumped out of the trench, but when he looked back he saw nobody else had moved.

"He jumped back and threw himself on the grenade and saved all their lives.

"It was an extremely brave act and within weeks he was put up for the Victoria Cross."

"The memorial inside the church was unveiled in 1916."

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