A Falklands’ veteran has launched a Facebook community group to inspire fellow veterans to share their experiences about the war.

Steve Butterworth has launched 'Poems, Songs and Writings about the Falkland Conflict' which has already attracted 127 members from across the country.

Steve, from Holcombe Brook, near Ramsbottom, spent eight years in the Navy and was on HMS Intrepid in the Falklands, working as a catering accountant and medic – helping the wounded.

Steve, who is an outreach worker at 'Veterans In Communities', said: “I have ideas for what this group can achieve.

WI would like to collect everyone’s writing and poetry to publish a book, filled with our individual experiences.

“I want others to understand what we have been through. A book could perhaps be a lasting memory for what we have to say.

“Some of the members write songs, which cannot be printed into a book. I would like there to be a live performance, where these veterans can sing what they have written and read their poetry with music.

“Some of the writing is deep and dark. Someone once said ‘even the shadows had shadows’ when talking about the Battle of Goose Green, which stuck with me.

“When I first came out of the Navy, I never spoke about what happened there, but I found that writing poetry was a form of escapism for me.

"It led me to write a poem Pale Maiden, which was made into a song and recorded.

“More recently, I have considered how these wars do not only affect those that go, but the families that are left behind.”

Steve recently wrote a poem called a Letter to Dad, which speaks to his father, who sadly passed away at 52 years old – just three years after Steve left the Navy.

Fellow veterans who want to join the group can find it on Facebook.