EVERYONE remembers where they were the day President Kennedy was shot - and I bet it's the same for old Colners the day Riddiough's timber yard caught fire!

The date when the town's biggest blaze was fought by more than 100 firemen, from 15 brigades throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire, was May 31, 1966.

It started from a puff of smoke, which grew into a 100ft high mushroom cloud, before 40ft flames leapt high into the early evening sky - flames which could be seen 10 miles away and attracted thousands of spectators.

The blaze destroyed John Riddiough and Sons, the 86-year-old family wood yard, and much of Foulds and Bury's single-storey cotton mill.

Thousands of tons of timber were lost, and domestic water supplies had to be cut off from nearby homes because of low pressure in the mains.

Danger from a nearby electricity sub station meant that power had to be cut off, too.

Shopkeepers along North Valley Road ran hoses and pumps to save their properties, as the inferno raged.

Edna Edmondson, who ran the popular Connie's' sweet shop with her husband Cyril, found much of her confectionery and chocolate had melted in the heat. And members of Colne Orpheus Glee Union interrupted their rehearsals in a nearby school to help carry hundreds of tins of paint from a decorator's shop to safety.

The blaze caused an estimated £100,000 damage and, as police began investigations, a senior spokesman said he believed children were responsible.

They were following up reports that two boys had lit a fire in a basket skip on the boundary fence of the yard.