AN amateur historian who has made it his mission to commemorate 900 men who died in the two world wars is looking for people to help him.

Clive Bowery, from Chester-le-Street, began his task when he visited some Commonwealth war graves nearly four years ago and noticed the names of a number of Chester-le-Street soldiers.

He returned home determined to compile a record of all those who died from Chester-le-Street and nearby villages during the two world wars.

He said: "When I first started, I thought it would be fairly straightforward and easy, a couple of weeks' work," said Mr Bowery, of Elm Way, Hilda Park.

"I thought I would get down a few names from the memorial in Chester-le-Street and type the names into the Commonwealth War Graves records, which would give me the main details like date of birth and the regiment they served in. But when I did, I found the names often didn't get anything back from the records."

His problems were compounded because names were often misspelt on war memorials and soldiers were often transferred to other regiments while posted abroad, unbeknown to their families.

In addition, a lot of the First World War records were destroyed during the Second World War.

As a result, Mr Bowery, an information technology systems programmer at Durham University, has spent the past four years trawling through obituaries in newspapers, visiting the Public Records Office and the British Library, in London, and making several trips a year to visit Commonwealth graves in Europe.

He said: "There isn't one centralised source of information which lists who died from each area and where. My ultimate aim will be to get details of all 800 to 900-plus people.

"I was born and bred in Chester-le-Street, so I'm showing my gratitude to the people who made the ultimate sacrifice."

Mr Bowery will give a talk about his research and war memorials in the pavilion in the park at Pelton Fell, on Saturday, November 16, at 2.30pm.

He will be happy to hear from anyone who has any information about people who died in either of the wars.

Alternatively he can be contacted on 0191-388 6331.