AT a time when minds are focussed on Afghanistan, a Sale man has been thinking of earlier sacrifices made in the first and second world wars.

George Cogswell has researched the history of every man whose name appears on public war memorials, church memorials and factory plaques throughout Trafford.

It has taken him three and a half years to record the names, addresses, ranks, numbers and burial places of 6,000 deceased local servicemen and create eight databases of information, two for each area of Trafford.

But the job is like the Forth Bridge. It goes on forever.

When he thinks he has finished he discovers more names.

George said: "Some wrote to me recently to tell me about the Royal Engineers memorial in Old Trafford.

"I discovered that when the regiment's headquarters were demolished in the late fifties they moved the memorial to their new office in Failsworth.

"I tracked it down and got permission to photograph it.

It is massive - about nine feet high and ten feet across."

It meant another 341 names on his Stretford World War 1 list.

George regrets that hundreds of people were not included on any memorial simply because many districts never got around to it.

"When I started my research I was nave enough to believe that what was on the cenotaphs was accurate and it ain't.

"I got quite angry at one stage but you become philosophical when you realise the circumstances which prevailed in the twenties when most of them were built.

By the time they were in place eight years could have passed after some of the servicemen died.

Relatives and people who remembered them had already started to move away or died themselves.

"It's easy to make mistakes when copying names and I have come across quite a few spelling errors and contradictory information."

He concluded: "Although the people named are fading into history, we should never forget them.

"Remembrance services must also continue to remind people of the consequences of war especially as we find ourselves in a war situation now."

If any readers know of any obscure memorials in the Trafford area, they should telephone George on 969 1045 or E-mail him at george.cogswell@ic24.net.