A lost anthem found among old Whit Friday brass band contest files may have been written by a Dobcross poet, a Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group meeting heard.

Austerlands resident David Needham raised the question at the ceremony to unveil The Three Crowns' Anthem at the group's monthly meeting. He suggested the author could be the late Harry Clegg from Dobcross, one of Saddleworth's lesser-known poets.

The anthem, written in Lancashire Dialect, is identified only by the initials HC. Before the unveiling, pub regular Stuart Cook read it to the meeting.

Mayor of Austerlands Rob Knotts unveiled the framed anthem by removing a Union Jack drape. The drape symbolises the coming together of the three crowns of England, Ireland and Scotland under the 1801 Act of Union, and is the likely source of the pub's name.

Mr Needham found the anthem among old files of the villages' Whit Friday brass band contest committee. After extensive research he concluded that Mr Clegg was the possible author, comparing the words with poems Mr Clegg published in the Oldham Chronicle's weekend column Lancashire Miscellany between 1956 and 1959.

The framed anthem has been enlarged to poster size by CN Signs of Uppermill and is now on display at the pub and restaurant on Huddersfield Road.