A SPECIAL thanksgiving service is to be held in memory of a former headmaster and parish council chairman who helped to bring modern facilities to the isolated rural community of Castlemorton, near Malvern.

Fred Windle was also one of the soldiers who famously called a truce on Christmas Day, 1914, to play a game of football against German soldiers in No Man’s Land.

The special service will be held at Castlemorton Church at 11 am tomorrow to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Fred Windle.

Robin Phillips, the organiser, who was a pupil at the village school when Mr Windle was headmaster, said: “He was the person who brought about modern Castlemorton.

“When he was alive it was all oil lamps and lavatories were at the bottom of the garden. There was no electricity and mains water did not exist in the village.

“He was chairman of the parish council and with one or two others he pushed for all these things.

“He was the headmaster from 1934 to 1958 and Castlemorton school was the first in Worcestershire to serve hot meals to its children. He started it off.

“Attached to the school was quite a large garden and the children had to go and do gardening. Produce from the garden used to go to the school canteen. In the 1930s and 1940s there was not a lot of food about.”

Mr Windle was also responsible for organising trips to the seaside for villagers. Mr Phillips said: “At the time we had about four or five coaches which went to Barry Island or Porth-cawl in Wales.

“Whole families would go and a lot of the children were subsidised.

“The village emptied and many people got their first sight of the sea.

“Mr Windle was very much appreciated and there was a time when his house burned down and the village had a collection and bought him a new three-piece suite.”

“He was very well-liked. The lad he used to cane quite a lot was the first person to phone me and say what a good idea it was to have the service. He was firm but fair.”

Mr Windle, who was aged 61 when he died, fought in the First World War in both France and the Dardanelles in Turkey.

Tomorrow’s event will include a flute solo and singing by pupils of Castlemorton CE Primary School . A poem will also be read by a former pupil of the school.

Light refreshments will be provided by the parochial church council afterwards.

The First World War's Christmas Truce The Christmas truce of 1914 began when German soldiers on the Western Front started to sing Christmas carols.

British troops in the Frelinghien-Houplines sector responded and gradually both sets of soldiers moved out of their trenches and met in No Man’s Land near Armentieres, France.

After exchanging stories and gifts, several games of football began. The only result recorded was a 3-2 victory by the Germans, quoted in soldiers’ letters from both sides. On some parts of the front hostilities were officially resumed on Boxing Day at 8.30am – ceremonial pistol shots marking the occasion.

In other areas non-aggressive behaviour lasted for days and, in some cases, weeks.

The truce happened during the first winter of the war – not then dubbed the “Great War” – before poison gas attacks and aerial bombardment.