9th March 1956 
Gales Brought Night Of Fear 
Extensive Damage In Town

The night of yesterday week was a frightening one for many people in local districts. One of the worst gales in living memory raged throughout the night and widespread damage to property caused. Scores of trees were uprooted some of them of massive proportions; hundreds of chimney pots and thousands of slates were hurled to the ground; chimney stacks crashed through roofs; windows were blown in; fencing and hoarding’s blown down. Hen coops and wooden garages were overturned, and roads were blocked by fallen trees. A strong wind blew throughout the day, but it was not till the evening that it began to rage fiercely.

Stories were heard on many hands of householders who stayed up for much of the night, fearing some of the things that actually happened; and of others who left their beds in the early hours, just in time to escape the crash of a chimney stack through the roof and on to the bed; and of hen coops being blown down, and the hens never being seen again.

Mr. T. Seeley, who has in charge of the auxiliary weather station at the King’s School, Pontefract, told ‘The Express’ that the strength of the wind in the district was what is known as a strong gale, force nine (about 50 miles per hour) which causes structural damage. At times it was whole gale, force ten. (60mph), which is seldom experienced inland.

It is thought that the damage to property was more considerable that it might have been because of cracks and other weaknesses caused by severe frosts.

Buses on some routes had to be diverted because of fallen trees, and in one instance miners on the nightshift had to undertake a long walk because of the diversion. At Ferrybridge, single-deck buses replaced double-deck vehicles for early morning workers at the Fryston Colliery. Because a tree fell across Castleford Lane, the buses had to go down a nearby lane and under a low bridge. Five trees blocked the road between Womersley and Smeaton, and bus services between the villages were diverted. The gale played havoc with telephone wires with no fewer than 360 affected in the Pontefract and Castleford areas Throughout Friday Post Office engineers were concerned only with removing danger caused by broken wires and poles. They worked throughout the weekend getting things back to normal.