PAMELA RUSSELL grew up on Merseyside. She has an M.Phil (Liverpool) and taught undergraduates and post-graduates for many years before retiring in 2005. She was a founder member of the Maghull & Lydiate Local History Society, and has been its president since 1990. She received Lydiate's Civic Award in 2003 for services to local history in the community. More recently she has been invited into her local primary schools to assist with their First World War project.