The day the chimney fell

Disaster struck Lancaster 50 years ago when the 250ft Storeys factory chimney toppled killing two men and injuring 12 others. TERRY AINSWORTH looks back on that fateful day.The collapse occurred at White Cross Mills just before 2pm on Monday, February 28, 1966, at the change-over of shifts. The chimney crashed without warning, killing two men who were buried under thousands of tons of bricks and rubble, injuring 12 others and wrecking two buildings. Within seconds hundreds of factory workers had rushed to help colleagues trapped or struck by masses of masonry and twisted metal. They were quickly joined by police, firemen, ambulance men and other rescue workers. The Royal Lancaster Infirmary was alerted and doctors and nurses dashed across South Road with medical supplies. They crawled among the debris, giving pain-killing injections to those who had been trapped and giving first aid as they were being rescued.Workers from every department who could not join the rescuers stood watching in stunned silence. For a time there was confusion as to who was missing. Eleven people trapped or injured were rescued within a short space of time by workers tearing at the rubble with their bare hands and others used shovels, pick-axes, iron bars and any other tool which became available. The search continued throughout the night with the aid of floodlights and arc lamps for William Brown whose body was not found until 10.30am the following day.Rescue efforts were stepped up and Civil Defence squads from Trimpell, Nairn-Williamson Ltd, Royal Albert Hospital, the Post Office Savings Department and Lancaster Corporation arrived to give expert aid. Many people had remarkable escapes.One of them was Albert Seward, aged 44, of Chestnut Grove, Lancaster. Albert said he was in the yard when a workmate cried out that the stack was falling. 'There was a noise like a terrific gale or an express train close by and suddenly there was nothing but dust and thick black smoke', Albert said. 'I could hardly see and although I