THE 70th anniversary of VJ Day was marked in Skipton with a short service at the town's war memorial.

Among those taking part was Lesley Higson, who is a lay preacher at Holy Trinity and whose father, Charles Wilson, was taken prisoner at Singapore when it fell in 1942.

He was held for three-and-a-half years under the most appalling conditions, suffering intense cruelty and starvation along with all those captured.

Lesley's father received various medals after the war.

While in captivity he organised a Rover Scout Group. The Rovers were the most senior branch of the Scout movement where the age group was

18 to 21 at that time. Establishing the group helped maintain morale among the young men and gave Lesley's father a sense of purpose. After the war he was awarded the Chief Scout's Award for raising the Rover Group and it was this medal that he treasured above all others.

He lived to be 90, passing away in 2006.

As with most prisoners he rarely spoke of his captivity but, although sorely tested, his faith helped him come through his captivity.

He was also a signatory to a missive written before the war to "higher authority" explaining that the Japanese could attack from the north through Malaya and that all the defensive guns pointing south out to sea would be of little use should this happen. The missive was ignored.

Turn to page 50 for our history feature on VJ Day.