THE TOP STOREY CLUB DISASTER OF MAY, 1961:Store opened its doors to rescuers

From the Bolton Evening News, first published Tuesday 8th May 2001.

ONE of Bolton's most famous family-owned stores opened up to serve refreshments to police and firemen at the Club fire.

Mrs Ida Whitehead, whose son Gordon was managing director of the well-known Whitehead's store which closed only recently, remembers the night vividly.

The family owned much of the property along Crown Street on both sides, but not the Top Storey Club building.

They owned two flats opposite the club, however, and when the fire broke out opposite, the Whiteheads were contacted by these tenants.

"Gordon took the call and we all rushed down there immediately to open up the store, some of us still in nightclothes," said Mrs Whitehead, now 91.

"There were eight of us altogether, including Gordon and his wife Margaret, and we got the canteen going and started serving cups of tea to the ambulancemen and firemen.

"So many of them came in that there wasn't enough room and they had to sit on the stairs. They were all deeply affected by what they'd seen.

"Someone would come in and say: 'We've found another one', and we knew they'd discovered another body. It was awful."

Mrs Whitehead recalls the "stench" of the smoke, and how the flames lit up the sky close to the store. "It was amazing that it didn't spread right through the adjoining buildings, but it didn't.

Soaking

"There were hardly any people not in uniform along Crown Street -- it was full of firemen and policemen.

"At one stage, they found a young man who had jumped from a window. He wasn't too badly hurt but he was soaking wet, and one of our group lent him some clothes.

"My memories of that night are that it was very busy, very emotional. We didn't get home until around 5am."

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