It was very much the calm before the storm in July 1914. Our diary blog starting next Wednesday will reveal Luton's transformation from a quiet, peaceful town into one on a war footing, each week bringing together extracts from contemporary stories in The Luton News.

Subsequent weeks will reveal that two Luton-born sailors were among the first casualties of war; how the town coped with an influx of thousands of troops; how numerous local men rushed to enlist; how some Lutonians struggled to get home from a Europe where war clouds were gathering; and how local beauty spots became a battleground with 6ft deep trenches and the noise of heavy artillery that ricocheted back to the town.