A vicar has spoken of the devastating impact of the mill explosion on the Bosley community as it tries to heal itself a year on.
Rev John Harries, vicar of St Mary the Virgin Church in the village, said mill workers are suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder after the explosion which tore through Wood Treatment Ltd on July 17 last year, killing Dorothy Bailey, Jason Shingler, William Barks and Derek Moore.
He told the Express the workers and members of the community are suffering other emotional consequences from the blast.
Rev Harries said: “The impact has been much wider and deeper than I could have realised. It has affected the very core of people’s lives, how they work, how they relate to their families, their future. Some still have nightmares and are frightened by loud bangs. They are like soldiers back from Afghanistan, but they are not soldiers and have found themselves caught up in an explosion.
“We want people to know we are here. The commemorations this weekend are a way of saying we recognise people are still traumatised and it will bring back distressing memories but we don’t them to be alone. There will be books of condolence for people to write in. Four people died and people were injured and affected with post traumatic stress, but they have not been able to express how the feel.
“The impact will last forever but Bosley will carry on.”
Rev Harries was talking at a media briefing with community members, councillors and emergency services ahead of a weekend of private anniversary events for the community.
Sylvia Jenkinson, a parish councillor who launched a fund which raised £240,000 for affected families, said: “The anniversary brings it all back, the horror. I was outside my house when the explosion happened. It was like a bomb had gone off.
“It’s still raw a year on. The mill workers are scared at the tiniest noise and when I heard all the sirens the other day when those men broke into the site to steal metal it was like it was happening again and brought back all that fear.”
The mill was fenced off after emergency crews left in December. Police and the HSE are investigating the cause of the explosion. Chief inspector Rob Dickinson would not comment on the investigation but thanked the community for its patience in the inquiry which will last for many more months.
