Beauty & The Beast

The beauty of the river Yarrow makes the medieval village of Croston one of Lancashire’s most desirable villages to live in . I am very lucky to call Croston my home for the last  14 years but it is only upon reflection I realise the happy memories this beautiful river has given me.

I remember being photographed standing on the bridge over the river on the morning of my Wedding day .

I remember walking along the river path pushing my new baby daughter in her pram in the early evening sunshine.

I remember feeding the ducks on a lazy Sunday morning and my little girl squealing with delight when all the ducklings swam toward her.

I will always remember the 26^th December 2015 when the River Douglas breached its banks and could not cope with the amount of rain. The River Douglas feeds in to the Yarrow , the beautiful sleepy river that runs through my village . Storm Eva brought rain that lasted all morning and never stopped . The rain turned the beauty in to the beast and Croston was flooding.

More than 350 homes were devastated by over 3ft of contaminated river water , including my home . All I could do is watch the beast engulf my home from all sides, desperately trying to save what I could until the electricity went off . By candle light I managed to save most of our treasured possessions, my daughters Christmas presents and some pieces of furniture before being evacuated from my home by the emergency services.

It took over 36 hours for the floods to reside and then the true devastation became clear – our home was inhabitable.

The last few days of 2015 saw the residents of Croston clear out their homes , filing endless skips with their possessions and memories . Everybody helped each other whether their homes had been flooded or not . Strangers became friends as an amazing community spirit shone through . The local Sports Club became the nerve centre of the Village , offering free hot food , beds for those who had nowhere else to stay, endless supplies of free cleaning products and donated furniture to the flood effected homes.

The flooded homes are now drying out and the restoration work will start soon to rebuild homes and lives . Our aim is to be back in our home in 6 to 9 months time , fingers crossed.

The beast will not beat us and the river Yarrow will be a beauty again , it just may take a little while.