A NEW production celebrating a famous war hero is coming to Oswaldtwistle.

Bio-musical Bullets and Daffodils will remember the life of poet and soldier Wilfred Owen, who conducted his army training in Lancashire.

The production comes amid commemorative events honouring the sacrifice soldiers from East Lancashire, including the Accrington Pals, made in the First World War.

The show’s writer, Dean Johnson, discovered the most poignant connection that Wilfred shared with the county was that, on the morning of Owen’s death – a week before the end of the war – his platoon engaged on a manoeuvre with the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Dean said: “Owen and myself share a Birkenhead education, and even attended the same school, but Lancashire was another touchstone in his short life.

“He enlisted in Southport, which was part of Lancashire then, and he was billeted in Blackpool.

“Oswaldtwistle has a proud First World War heritage, and their First World War memorial was re-dedicated in 2009.

“Owen must have certainly passed through the town during his military training.”

The forthcoming production sets many of Wilfred Owen's most famous poems to contemporary music, and is narrated by the voices of Mark Reed – the son of late actor Oliver – and Christopher Timothy.

Most of Owen’s poems were published after his death at the age of 25 in 1918. His most famous work includes Dulce et Decorum Est, Insensibility, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility, and Strange Meeting. Bullets and Daffodils will be performed at the Civic Arts Centre, in Union Road, on Saturday, June 14.

For more information, or to book, call 01254 398319.