SKETCHES drawn on the front line of the First World War are on display in Northwich Library throughout November.

Northwich artist William Harold Hutchings, who served in the Cheshire Regiment and the Royal Army Medical Corps, took his sketch books to war and would paint and draw whenever he could.

He left his sketch books to the library when he died but now the fragile works are in the care of Cheshire Records Office.

The exhibition, which runs until November 29, features enlarged prints of the original sketches and has been organised by Development of the Arts in Northwich (DAN).

Nick Hughes, from DAN, said: "Many of the sketches have a vibrant and spontaneous quality depicting everyday life on the front line - sometime comic, occasionally tragic.

"After the war, William worked as a clerk for Brunner Mond in Northwich, and continued to paint and draw.

"He was a founder member of the Northwich Society of Artists, and a member of the Crescent Players."

William was born in Toxteth Park, in Liverpool, in 1886.

He trained at the Liverpool School of Art and is thought to have worked for the United Alkali Company, in St Helens, before the war.

The exhibition will also feature a display of First World War medals, model figures courtesy of artist Michael Troy and trench art courtesy of John Knowles.

Copies of three Northwich Heritage Society publications on Northwich and the First World War, 'A Call To Arms' by Alan Lowe and 'The Lost Boys of Lostock' by John Knowles, will be available to purchase.

Admission is free and the library is open from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 7pm from Thursday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday.

For more information visit danarts.co.uk