ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

TONY KEARNS has a confession to make - after a lapse of 20 years!

He was, he at last reveals, an under-age boozer on the fateful night when a pub he had sneaked into was blasted apart by a major gas leak.

Tony, now 36 and living at Truro Close, Laffak, still retains vivid memories of that nightmare experience. "I remember it all as if it were yesterday."

He is the latest to respond to my earlier appeal for details of the horror blast which occurred at the Railway Hotel, just off the St Helens town centre, on January 13, 1978.

And he gives a graphic first-hand account of the explosion, which, despite its intensity, claimed not a single life. Just a handful from among the staff and customers suffered minor injuries.

"I was 16 on one of my first boozing sessions along with my pals, John (Chaddy) Chadwick and Paul Barker. We were only there because we'd been refused service at the Raven Hotel nearby," he says, "and when we first went into the Railway bar I can swear that the the smell of gas in there was so strong that we even mentioned the chance of an explosion."

Because there were just two elderly men in the bar, the three youthful tipplers decided to move through to the lounge. "We were there for only about two minutes when there was a sudden boom, a large flash and then total darkness.

"One thing that still sticks in my mind," adds Tony, "is the deadly silence which followed and the feeling of being drenched in ale."

Then pandemonium broke loose.

The urge to get out as quickly as possible took a grip and without hesitating to assess their injuries the customers fled the wreckage.

"We three ran through the broken window frame and across the road."

Deeply shocked, they slumped against a wall looking at the ruins and hearing other people crying and screaming.

"There was broken glass all over the place," Tony recalls, "and some of the shop windows across in George Street were shattered."

It seemed ages before the arrival of the Green Goddess fire appliances (being manned by forces personnel during a fire service dispute).

"I had quite a few cuts and bruises," adds Tony, "but I went home in fear of what the police would do if they caught me drinking at the age of 16."

And he managed to keep his miraculous escape from death secret from his mother. "When I got home, my mum told me there'd been an explosion in town. I just said that I was tired and went upstairs to bed, reflecting on a frightening night to remember."

THANKS, Tony for that superb first-hand account.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.