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Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, December 7, 1962


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OVER A


TN the spring of that year it ilad been good to look up at


the big brown hill, or at the chasing, criss-crossing ripples in


the river, or away over to where the long green fields reached out to the hills of Bowland.


and it was enjoyable to watch the people appreciating the springtime as they walked through the old streets, or gathered momentarily in the Market Place in the centre of


It was a good spring that year,


the town. Each one of us had been


pleased that we could go about our own business unhindered to a large extent, and each one had looked forward to the day when his ambitions for himself and his family would be realised. Every day, we thought, was a day nearer to the time when we would reach the full justification


If the. Bomb dropped, this could be the scene


HILL THERE ROSE DARK CLOUD


obvious to very many people that the climate was going to change, and many were fright­ ened. They could see only too plainly that the ambitions they cherished were threatened, that crisis might possibly enter their carefully planned lives.


In the early summer it became


morning when the storm broke. The storm broke with an awful


I t was the middle of the


immensity over the big hill, which was dwarfed by a vicious, tremendous blinding flash The colour of the hill was changed


run home as fast as they could without anyone stopping them.


would be before the radioactive fallout reached the valley. ■ We


We had no idea how long it


had no idea about anything. This was something we had not


prepared for; this had not fitted in with our plans.


'For all we knew, we might be doomed already.


less. We did not know if the fallout had already reached us.


from brown to yellow, a terrify­ ing bright yellow.


seen, everyone who was outside or near a window was blinded. In shops, factories, banks and offices, the whole town was blinded. The blindness lasted several seconds, i t was not total


As soon as the great flash was


had not been good that spring, and there had been a certain tenseness of atmosphere.


of our existence. The news in the wider world


there had been no sign of a storm.


But in the Clitheroe spring


great powers were snarling one at the other. An ocean separated the two combatants, holding them apart as the leash holds bade a greyhound, eager to


In the wider world the two


hunt But to the ordinary man, the


troubles of the world were not his troubles, just as his own troubles were not the troubles of


really notice, dogs running about the streets, made mad by the flash and the shaking of the ground and the blast of the bomb.


We saw, vaguely, but did not


playing in the streets. Some of us ignored them, but some of us had still our humanity and man­ liness, and we picked them up


We saw young children still * * * This article has been written by Brian Edwards following


an interview with Mr. Albert McGowan, Civil Defence organ­ iser for the Clitheroe district.


* * *


blindness, for we were conscious of a great whiteness. When this whiteness faded we could see, climbing over the flanks of the hill, a great black mushroom cloud.


the world. In any case, he said, I can do nothing about it. I t is out of my hands. There is absol­ utely nothing I can do.


23, MOOR LANE Also at:


Telephone Clitheroe 796 CLITHEROE:


PRESTON, BLACKBURN, ACCRINGTON. NELSON.


and still the weather was good. Although the artificial air made by politicians was charged with a vast tension, this force did not reach the little market town. Or rather it did reach the town, but it was felt by only a few, who did not like to talk about it.


Spring merged into summer,


PRINTING . BOOKBINDING RULING AND DIESTAMPENG


ADViERTISEB & TIMES OFFICE 6. MARKET PLACE


CLITHEROE


about it a great deal, but they did not really like to, talk about it. The subject was mentioned in conversation, but it was obvious that people did not like to talk about it, and so it was pushed into the back of the mind, where it lay trapped, at bay but ever ready to spring to the front of the mind, to terrify the thinker with apprehensive


These few people thought fear.


not know what had happened. At the same time as the end of tire flash the ground shook. I think, looking back, that this was perhaps the most unnerving part of the whole storm. We in Clitheroe had never felt the ground shake, and this is a most terrifying experience.


There were few people who did


run. They shouted as they ran:


And then people started to


“ They’ve dropped a bomb on Manchester.” Almost as soon as


and ran with them, taking them to their homes. I expect the ones who ignored these children had not really lost their humanity; they had simply lost their reason at that time.


our families were waiting there for us, mute with1 terror, except for the very young and the very old, who did not realise what had happened, was happening, and was likely to happen.


When we reached our homes,


on us to give strength and com­ fort, but we were incapable of giving either. I suppose that it was because we did not know what we could do. We only knew that something had happened that had never happened before and we did not know what to do.


Our families were depending


they started to run, there was a deafening blast, the loudest noise that had ever been heard in the valley. I t filled the whole air, the whole everything, with


its immensity. Even while they ran, in their blind panic, people were impressed by the fantastic


scale of the noise. They ran blindly, with only


our homes, and each house had become an island; an island separated from the next island by only a few inches of brick or stone, yet it might as well have been a very long distance. A void of fear and ignorance separated us from the next island.


We slammed shut the doors of


one thought: to get home. If anyone barred their way they knocked them him to the ground, or kicked him. They did not want to hurt one another, they simply wanted to be allowed to


filled by the huge mushroom cloud, which was now so high that we could not see the top of it. We were all sickeningly afraid. Every limb and every


Outside, the whole sky seemed Still we ran, panting and word­


seemed sick with fear. We could only wait for someone to come and help us.


innermost part of our minds


deal about it. We wondered what we should do to try to ward off the radioactivity which we knew was deadly. We knew, or thought we knew, that the effects took some time to show them­


Of course, we talked a great


selves, and we wondered if per­ haps already we were as good as dead. This was a thing, however, that we did not talk about.


or it may have been three . . . . I t might have been the third


For two long days we waited,


day when one of us realised that outside the birds were still sing­ ing. At first the significance of that did not strike us, but after a time we thought that perhaps it meant that radioactivity had not reached the valley. We were not sure, however.


noticed policemen and men of the Civil Defence outside.


I t was on that day that we


house next door, but then he went away, and we were left to wait and wonder. Later another Civil Defence man came to our house and explained the situa­ tion to us.


One of these men came to the


all over the world were dead, but an incomparably greater number were alive and well, and would remain well so long as they took precautions against the radioactivity, which was now rapidly disappearing. .


They told us that many people


great shock of it all, and we could' not fully comprehend everything he said.


We were still numbed with the V A


time afterwards, that these were men who had prepared them­ selves to be of use to their own families and to other families in times of emergency. They were men who had not been so com­ pletely engrossed with their own personal ambitions that they had refused to acknowledge that a bomb might be dropped, and they had refused to believe that if a bomb were dropped it would mean the end of everything.


We did realise, however, some


afterwards, and we all realised how completely unprepared we had been, all except for the few men who had known what to do; who had been trained and had the knowledge of what to do at the time of the great holocaust.


I talked with many people C


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EX-LABOUR AGENT


‘KILLED HIMSELF Body found in reservoir


“TT'ILLED HIMSELF” was the verdict recorded by the East Lancashire Coroner, Mr. George Graham, at the


Padiham inquest yesterday week on Coun. Rowland Westell, aged 67, a former secretary and agent of Clitheroe Division


Bur°hley Road, Clowbridge, and a member of Clowbrldge Parish Council, was found In Clowbrldge reservoir by police frogmen.


Labour Party. The body of Coun. Westell, a retired printing labourer, of


mechanic, of Burnley Road, Crawshawbooth, said Coun. Westell was his father-in-law.


Mr. Harry Whittaker, motor


Mr. Whittaker added, his father-in-law had complained of pains In his head and legs.


During the past few weeks,


Cliviger, said he received a telephone message at 10-25 p.m. on the Tuesday and went to Clowbridge reservoir. He saw clothing behind a wall and found two envelopes in the jacket.


P.C. Stan Cropper, of


and the following morning special equipment was taken there. Frogmen found Coun. Westell lying face down in 15 feet of water.


Dragging operations began,


voir inspector, of Burnley Road, Clowbridge, told the Coroner he saw Mr. Westell on the Tuesday, when he was making his rounds. Mr. West­ ell said he had no cigarettes and was going, to get some.


Mr. Harry Marshall, reser­


offered him a cigarette, had a short conversation with him, and then continued on his


Mr. Marshall added that he


rounds. Mr. Westell appeared quite


normal and had given no indication that he intended to take his life.


was satisfied from the notes Mr. Westell left that he in­ tended to take his life.


The Coroner said that he


Padiham police surgeon, said death was caused by asphyxia due to drowning. He revealed that Mr. Westell had harden­ ing arteries and had “not long for this world”.


Dr. J. W. J. Forsythe, the Nominated


pOUN. Mrs. Mary Noblett, of Hodgefield Farm, Billing-


ton, was on Saturday nominated to represent Black­ burn Rural District Council on Blackburn and District Hos­ pital Management Committee.


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