ORGANISERS of an award-winning radio broadcast training charity are searching for relatives of Bolton soldiers who took part in the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War.

Up to 20 schoolchildren are helping the research project run by Diversity in Barrier Breaking Communications (DBBC).

They have already identified up to 100 soldiers from Bolton who died in the ill-fated assault, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, which took place from April 25, 1915, to January 9, 1916.

It was an attempt to break the deadlock on the Western Front in Europe by attacking German allies, Turkey, on the Gallipoli peninsula.

But it was one of the greatest Ottoman victories of the Great War and is considered a major Allied failure.

Many soldiers from Australia and New Zealand took part in the conflict, but the DBBC project has discovered many Bolton soldiers — most of whom were in the Lancashire Fusiliers, whose spiritual home is Bury.

Project manager Alan Martland said there were more than 100 soldiers from Bolton who fought at Gallipoli.

“We know there were more from records of the Commonwealth War Graves,” he said.

“Much of our research has centred around the 1911 census as we try to find out about the families of the men who took part. The next stage is to try to get in contact with arelatives of those men so we can bring their story to life.

“Because Gallipoli is regarded as a defeat, there are no memorials to them.”

The DBBC is planning to collate its information into an audio format, which will be made available to Bolton Museum and Bury Fusiliers.

Mr Martland said: “Instead of playing games on the internet, the young people are researching how these men lived and who they were,” he added.

Relatives of Gallipoli soldiers who would like to contribute information to the project can phone 01204 373107 or email dorothymartland@hotmail.com.