A presentation dinner was held at the Cross Keys Inn, near Garstang, which was attended by over 100 people, including brethren from St Michaels on Wyre Lodge No 8348, brethren from other lodges from the Lancaster Group, along with their guests, families and friends.
The dinner was held to present a cheque to the Royal Preston Hospital Burns Unit and to celebrate the magnificent effort by lodge chaplain John Holmes in raising funds in commemoration of those who died and were seriously burned in 1984 following the disaster at Abbeystead.
John is one of the survivors of a group of 44 visitors from St Michael’s on Wyre village who were on a public visit to the Abbeystead valve house on 23 May 1984. They had been invited to witness a demonstration by the North West Water Authority on the operation of the underground station designed to alleviate flooding in St Michaels on Wyre. Just after the visit started the valve house was destroyed by a massive explosion caused by methane gas which had ignited.
Eight people were killed instantly by the explosion and the others were severely injured. Another eight people subsequently died from their injuries including an 11-year-old boy and his mother. The blast brought the ceiling of the underground chamber crashing down on top of the visitors with the crater formed immediately filling with river water. The visitors were engulfed by a huge ball of fire. Many were trapped inside while others were thrown out into a neighbouring field.
The injured, many suffering from the most horrendous and extensive burns, were treated at the Royal Preston Hospital Burns Unit and there is no doubt that the ultimate death toll would have been even greater without the skill, care and compassion of the consultants and staff of the Burns Unit, to whom the community of St Michael’s on Wyre owe a great debt of gratitude.
In January 2024, John and his wife Christine decided that they wanted to raise some funds for the Burns Unit to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the disaster. In collaboration with Lucy Clark, fundraiser, from the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity, John decided to undertake a two-day 30-mile sponsored walk stopping at each of the five Masonic halls within the Lancaster Group over a two-day period.
John, together with a support team of family members, friends and fellow Freemasons, took part in the walk, commencing at Silverdale Masonic Hall, visiting Carnforth, Morecambe and Lancaster Masonic Halls. They walked 17 miles on the first day despite the heavy, torrential rain. The final leg from Lancaster to Garstang Masonic Hall was completed the following day in marginally better weather.
Prior to the commencement of the walk, John had already raised over £17,000 which was boosted by a charity raffle and auction at a lodge festive board attended by 73 brethren, family members and guests following a St Michaels on Wyre Lodge meeting. A Chorley raffle raised £798 with an additional £1,225 raised from the auction making a total of £2,023 on the night!!!
By way of a thank you to those attending the final presentation dinner, a free raffle took place between the main and dessert course where 70 prizes had been donated including a £50 voucher for dinner donated by the Cross Keys Inn and Little Town Dairy amongst many, many others; too many to mention individually but all gratefully received and faithfully applied.
St Michaels on Wyre Lodge director of ceremonies Allan Brown then commenced proceedings. Invited guests at the presentation dinner included Catherine Towers, whose parents were injured in the explosion. Catherine gave a short talk about the events that took place at Abbeystead, as witnessed by her parents, and the struggle that followed for the victims to receive compensation for their injuries. Her talk was moving, poignant and graphic but sympathetically portrayed the full sense of the horror of Abbeystead.
Simon Weston CBE DL, the Welsh Guardsman who suffered terrible burns following the bombing of HMS Sir Galahad during the Falklands war joined the evening by Zoom and brought his congratulations to John. Simon Weston is a Freemason, although his very extensive charitable work currently limits his active involvement.
Next to present were Jon Davies, the lodge’s newest joining member and Gareth Williams, the newest member of the lodge who is an entered apprentice and will be passed to the second degree in November 2024. Allan Brown invited Jon to give an overview of Freemasonry and the charitable giving of the members in 7,000 lodges within the United Grand Lodge of England and Wales who are the second largest donors to charity just behind the National Lottery. However, it must be acknowledged that there are many other very worthwhile organisations which do fantastic charitable work too; the Lions, Probus, Round Table, to name but three.
Freemasonry is however unique, it is based on integrity, friendship, respect and service. Yes, charity is a core element of its activities, as evidenced on this occasion. However, in addition, Freemasonry underpins what and how we do things in a life in which we strive to be better men. The same applies to the women’s Masonic movement too.
Gareth Williams was then invited to read out the memorial address which has been read during the lodge meeting every year in May since the disaster occurred by the incumbent WM of St Michaels on Wyre Lodge. As the lodge meets on the fourth Friday, it often falls on the anniversary of the disaster.
A slideshow ensued showing the numerous photos taken before, during and after the walk which gave the audience a good idea of the condition the walkers endured during the two days. Lucy Clark introduced a video about the work of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity. Lucy then told everyone about when she first met John in January to talk through his ideas. He had requested that there be no promotion of his walk on social media as he wanted to raise the money solely through Freemasonry, family, friends, local organisations and businesses. He did however receive support from the Duke of Westminster, who is a prominent landowner within our district and on whose land at Abbeystead the pumping station stands.
Marcia Roach, the lead nurse at the Burns Unit, was next up and she gave an overview of the specialist equipment that John’s donation would be funding. This includes a micro needling machine which will help to stop scarring. a vein finding machine which is used to locate veins in burns victims’ arms legs and body in order to take blood samples which are otherwise undetectable due to the physical damage by the burns, a hi- tech industrial sewing machine to make highly specialised in-house garments for burns victims and an outreach service to assist burns victims recovering at home.
The penultimate part of the night was given by John Holmes who warmly thanked everyone who had supported his fundraising venture. He thanked all the walkers, his support team, raffle prize donors, sponsors and all the Masonic halls. From the lodge, he thanked Peter Pemberton for the massive amount of background support, promotional material and general guidance, lodge secretary Ian Barker for his superb organisation of the meal, Allan Brown for the preparation and presentation of the proceedings for the evening, group chairman Scott Devine for his invaluable support, Simon Weston for his encouragement, Dan Meghan and the team at the Cross Keys Inn for looking after everyone so well on the night and fantastic food. Finally, John thanked his wife Christine for her support over the recent months. With emotion, John ended by saying thank you again to all and saying: “It has all been worth it! The money raised is from our community for our community.”
The pinnacle of the evening was for the final total to be announced. John’s original aim had been to raise between £2,000 to £2,500. Allan invited John’s granddaughter, Enva, to reveal the final total which was £33,130.48. The congratulatory applause from all present testified to the astonishment of the achievement. Very well done John!!!
As a postscript to the evening, John, Christine and Simon joined together in a Zoom meeting on the Monday after the event. They were able to share mutually empathetic personal experiences of their respective injuries and how the presentation night unfolded. When Simon was told the amount raised, he was, as he put it: “Totally gobsmacked”!!!