A COUPLE'S romantic wedding on a sun-kissed Caribbean island almost turned into disaster when a hurricane battered their beach resort.

Rodney and Sheryl Hodkinson's exotic marriage ceremony in the Dominican Republic had just finished when dark rain-clouds appeared in the sky and the wind started to blow.

The hurricane, which hit the island's north coast, was at its turbulent peak for five hours. Trees were uprooted and objects had to be fastened down. Chaos ensued as the international airport was closed and thousands of holidaymakers were left stranded for two days.

Rodney and Sheryl spoke to the Citizen after arriving back home in Pendle this week.

Sheryl told the Citizen: "We chose the venue because it was very romantic. The wedding was unbelievable.

"We were staying in a hotel right by the beach and the ceremony was virtually on the beach. It was beautiful. There were palm trees, the sea in the background and glorious sunshine.

"When we went back to the bar the sky clouded over and we knew there was a hurricane on the way.

"The guys in the hotel went into action. They brought everything inside and started taping things down. To begin with we were very blase about it but things got pretty bad and I was very scared.

"It was horrendous. We just couldn't cope with it, but we always felt secure because the Dominican guys were absolutely superb. The hotel security guards had to stay out in the storm - they were clinging to palm trees all night!"

The weather returned to normal and the couple enjoyed the rest of their two-week holiday, returning to sunny Barnoldswick yesterday (Wednesday) morning.

Their six children had planned a warm welcome. The Gisburn Road home was decorated with balloons and banners and the kids had even painted a picture of Rodney and Sheryl clinging to a palm tree!

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