Sir Tom Finney football pitch in Preston becomes a 'peace field' as it's twinned with the site of WW1 Christmas truce

Part of the Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccor Centre at The University of Central Lancashire, the field has been designated as a "Peace Field" and linked to Mesen in Belgium- the site of a football match between German and Allied troops in December 1914.

The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Centre is a charity named after the Preston North End and England star, who joined PNE as a teenager but had to wait until the end of the second war to make his league debut, aged 24.

Sir Tom was called up to fight in World War Two aged 20 and during his time he served in West Africa and Italy.

The only other British players with peace fields named after them are Manchester United legends, Duncan Edwards in his home town of Dudley, Denis Law in Aberdeen, and George Best in East Belfast, on the Cregagh Green pitch in which he first played.

The Sir Tom Finney Peace Field has now joined a network set up by the National Children’s Football Alliance and the Peace Village, Mesen, Belgium, in commemoraton of WW1 and celebration of peace.

The Peace Field Project is an international heritage project offering clubs, groups, schools, and associations the chance to link up with the Flanders Peace Village, in Belgium, on the site of one of the many matches played during a break in fighting on Christmas 1914.

In an unofficial truce, British and German soldiers on the Western Front stopped fighting and ventured into no man's land to socialise, exchange gifts and play football, whilst the French and Belgian soldiers also took part.

Sponsoored by the Heritage Lottery Funding, schools can apply for their Peace Field Declaration online for free by submitting a picture of their designated playing field, nominated school ambassadors, and a short video message or letter explaining why the school feels it is important to commemorate WW1 and celebrate peace through cross curricular activities and learning about the 1914 Christmas Truces.