More information has come to light following the recent Bygones story which told about the morning in September, 1940, when a lone German long-range bomber blasted homes close to Darwen town centre.

Six people were killed including, as we recalled, a man delivering coal.

That man was Jim Page who must go down as one of the unluckiest Home Front casualties of the Second World War.

His story was told to local history researcher Tony Foster just before he set out to lead a walk around Darwen town centre for Heritage Week.

A relative who had read our recent story of the bombing called into the new Heritage Centre at Holker House to pass on some background information – and a newly-discovered photo of Jim and his wife Joanna.

They lived next door to the family coal business in Victoria Street, just round the corner from where the bombs caused so much death and destruction.

On that fateful morning the regular driver was late for work and Jim Page readily volunteered to do the shift. He loaded up and almost his first stop was just round the corner – down Sudell Road, a left and a right right into Crown Street.

The German long-range bomber, probably a Dornier, swooped from the western moors and dropped his deadly cargo, probably his last bombs after a night-raid over Liverpool.

On that Monday morning Jim Page was working in Crown Street. He survived the bomb blasts and was just beginning to think his luck was in when a heavy chimney stack on one of the slightly damaged houses in the street slowly crumpled and crashed down on him, killing him instantly.

Jim Page was 33 and had married Joanna Robinson at St John's Church, Darwen, in 1930. They had a daughter, Joan.

The others killed that morning lived in Holme Street and Spring Street, where the Sainsbury's car park now backs on to Redearth Road. They were Wilfred Banks 35, Herbert Parkinson 27, Mary Lynn 52, Mary Caroline Doherty 60 and Ewart Gladstone Fish 30. Jim is buried at St Paul's, Hoddlesden, in the Robinson family grave, and the others were interred in Darwen's old cemetery.

The large photograph that accompanies this story is a rare shot of the Holme Street cottages that survived the attack. The cobbled street curls over the River Darwen from Lodge Bank and on towards Crown Street. Spring Street was behind the houses. At the top are houses in Redearth Road and on the right part of Holme Mill which had a chequered life as a cotton mill before it finally closed in 1958. All the buildings have now disappeared.

n Holker House is now open from 10am to 4pm every Wednesday. Visitors are welcome to call in for a chat and a coffee and to view the many displays.