Lightning bolt blows a hole in Fernhill Road home

Jul 1 2009 Peter Kennedy

AN ELDERLY Olton couple had a lucky escape when lightning struck their bungalow in Fernhill Road on Saturday.

Seventy-five-year-old Walter Broadfield, a retired welder, and his wife Joan, 70, were in the lounge at about 5pm when there was what seemed like an “almighty explosion”.

A bolt of lightning had struck the roof, holing it and causing half of the chimney to crash down. But the pensioner couple escaped without a scratch.

“I used to be a bomb armourer in the RAF, so I know the sound of a bomb going off, and I thought that was what had happened,” said Mr Broadfield. “There was a lot of smoke and dust but no fire, thank goodness.

“The Fire Brigade came, patched up the roof and made safe the remaining half of the chimney, which was in a dangerous state.

And four young local lads helped clear the rubble.

“They got a wheelbarrow from a neighbour and used it to wheel the bricks and tiles that had come down to another neighbour’s skip.

“They did a great job and I want to thank them and my neighbours very much.”

The thunderstorm knocked out local telephone lines, No injuries were reported.