Poppy, our 45ft Narrowboat for hire on The Lancaster Canal

Private James Heaton was born in 1900 in Hindley Green, near Wigan, the son of William and Rebecca Heaton. He grew up in a tight-knit Lancashire coal community, where life was defined by long shifts, strong families, and quiet pride. As a child he watched the men of his town march away to the Great War — fathers, brothers, neighbours, lads barely older than himself — many of whom never returned. The war shaped his generation long before he was old enough to wear a uniform. By late 1918 or early