North Fylde
Constituency Plan

This item comes from the collection of Sir Walter Clegg, who bequeathed his parliamentary collection of items to Wyre Council in 1994 and forms part of its heritage archives and collections.  

Sir Walter Clegg was elected Member of Parliament for North Fylde in 1966. He became Lord of the Treasury in 1970 and was successively Vice-Chamberlain of the Household in 1972 and Comptroller of the Household from 1973 to 1974. He was MP for Wyre from 1983 until his retirement in 1987.  

On the evening of the storm, many families woke to the sound of rushing water flooding their downstairs rooms. They would have gone into a frenzy trying to grab food, candles, and belongings before running back to the safety of the upstairs. Those who did not wake up in time to salvage items from the ground floors were left fireless, foodless, and drenched to their skin. The furniture of the lower rooms could be heard floating and bumping against the ceilings and window frames. On 29 October, 1,123 houses were visited, and the occupants rescued. Not all survivors could be rescued immediately.

Those trapped in the upper rooms were told to attach clothes lines from the windows for baskets of food, drink, and occasionally candles and oil lamps, to be passed up. The candles and oil lamps provided light to those trapped in their houses and were used to guide rescue boats to them in the darkness. By 2 November, people began to return to their homes following news that the waters were subsiding. Only three of the 37 submerged streets were impassable to pedestrians at this point. Left behind on the cleared streets was slimy, evil-smelling mud, several inches deep; a reminder that it was not business as usual.