Flood Appeal Case Study
A SMALL rural community of seven houses is particularly grateful to Lancashire Flood Relief Fund for helping to reconnect them to the outside world.
The community on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border was stranded the day after the Boxing Day floods, when their little stone bridge, believed to date back to the 1950s, cracked, the tarmacked deck slid one side and dropped about two feet.
A vortex of water from the swollen Butts Beck which rises in the hills behind Barnoldswick, had washed away foundations on one side.
There was a mad scramble when one resident in her car, heard a crack and others were notified to get cars out of the car ports onto the driveway the other side of the river. Two cars however were left stranded.
Since then the community of three retired couples, three with young children and a couple renting while waiting to emigrate, have gingerly crossed the broken bridge which continued to crack.
The properties were originally part of a public house and were converted into individual houses 15 years ago and a small community was formed, but residents were not able to obtain insurance for the bridge. Apart from the old beer cellar, fortunately none of the properties were flooded.
Having to raise a large amount for a new bridge as the old one couldn’t be repaired, the residents started obtaining quotes and turned to Lancashire Flood Relief Fund for help.
The Fund has been particularly generous and we are so very grateful. Work started on demolishing the old bridge on 29th February and the new steel bridge was completed in April.
Meanwhile residents have used a temporary metal bridge with scaffolding poles as handrails to cross the Beck which was upgraded to river status, a few years ago.
Now life is returning to normal, the residents would like to say a big thank you to the Relief Fund. Without the financial help from the fund, their problems would be continuing.
