WORK on a children's trail by a member of the congregation at an Ashton on Mersey church has uncovered a fascinating link to a First War poet.

Celia Bonner, from St Martin's Church, was working on the trail around the church and, whilst doing so, studied the tablets on the walls.

According to Celia, some Canadian medics who visited the church showed an interest in a plaque to John George Adami, saying how well-known he was in Canada.

Celia said: “I was directing Oh What a Lovely War for the Garrick at the time, and looked up information about John McCrae who wrote the famous In Flanders Fields poem. I subsequently discovered that Adami and McCrae knew one another.”

Adami who was born in 1862, grew up in Ashton-on-Mersey and went to Manchester Grammar School. He gained a first class degree at Cambridge University, and by the age of 30 had been appointed a professor of pathology at McGill University, Montreal.

John McCrae who was a postgraduate student there. Adami described him as 'the most talented physician of his generation', and subsequently they both co- authored A Textbook of Pathology for Students of Medicine.

In 1914, the pair joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps, serving in Europe.

McCrae wrote his moving poem In Flanders Fields, whilst waiting for the wounded to be brought to him during the second Battle of Ypres.

He died in France in 1918.

Adami survived the conflict to become vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool where he remained until his death in 1926.

So, next time you hear someone read In Flanders Fields, think on its link with Ashton-on-Mersey.