Isle of Man Summerland Fire

[FLYING SAUCER]

Does anyone remember the terrible fire at Summerland on The Isle of Man in 1973?

We went to the TT races there in 76 and my Dad pointed it out, it was rebuilt quite insensitive really considering 51 were killed there - there is a short clip on youtube,.

[Richard1978]

I'm too young to remember it, but my Dad remembers it brought up a lot of issues on safety of buildings open to the public.

[cath270263]

Yes I remember the fire I was 10 years of age and on holiday with my family. We actually visited the Summerland on the day of the fire, I can remember the night of the fire, we were staying in a hotel on the opposite end of the prom, I was there with my cousin and our Mum's and Dad's had gone out for the evening. We left the hotel on our own to see what was happening, I remember people being helped out covered in dust and seeing an old man from our hotel also covered in dust from the fire. It was very chaotic peope rushing around everywhere, and the days after the fire were really sad every were you went people were in shock. Its funny I should of found this thread as I was talking to a work mate about today and looked on the internet to see what year the tragedy happened.

[manxmaid]

I too was talking about this at work the other day, I remember the night of the fire really well, I was born and brought up on the IOM and on the day of the fire, I had gone to Douglas with some family friends, their daughter was similar age to me, and we spent the day in the shops, arcades and then went for some tea. On the way home along the prom, my friends parents were toying with the idea of going into Summerland as none of us had been in there before, and the only thing that stopped us going in was that they had to collect their younger daughter from a birthday party in Baldrine. When we got back to their house (they lived on a farm up Ballaragh (sorry about the spelling) the phone rang, (not many people had phones back then), the father answered the phone and I remember him saying when the call was ended that Summerland was on fire, at that stage no-one knew the full extent, but even at my age of 11 I was in shock, the IOM had never seen anything like it. The next day my parents drove upto the area where the Grotto is in Onchan and you could look down on the shell that was less then 24 hours earlier a thriving holiday complex. It was a shell, there were loads of other people there too, everyone was in shock. It is very rarely mentioned on the island these days, but no-one has forgotten it.

I dread to think what would have happened if we didn't have to collect the youngster from the party. The family I have talked about here emigrated to Canada a year or two after the fire, I would really love to hear from them, if any of them stumble across this they will know who I am. Both daughters should be around the 50 or just approaching the 50 milestone, I heard years after the mother had passed away, but if the father is still alive I imagine him to be in his 80's.

[FLYING SAUCER]

From what I can gather, there only remains a small commemorative stone near where this terrible incident happened, and, like yourself, there must still be many folk out there with their own story to tell?

And I remember we sailed out to the IOM after this happened in jJune 1976 in a lovely old ship called Manx Maid.

[sf1378]

Read about it on the net after this was intitally posted. Terrible tragedy.

[manxmaid]

Slightly off thread:

The old Manxmaid, yes I remember her well, thats where I got my user name...

sadly she is at rest at that old shipyard in the sky.

[Fatdan]

I was talking about early memories with my kids last night and told them that one of my earliest, and most vivid, recollections was of driving away from Summerland and hearing on the car radio that the place was up in flames. I was about four and a half at the time and I also remember being mesmerised by the place and not wanting to leave. I hadn't realised the extent of the tragedy until I Googled it this morning. What a terrible event.

[Robert E Wilson]

Slightly off thread:

The old Manxmaid, yes I remember her well, thats where I got my user name...

sadly she is at rest at that old shipyard in the sky.

I'm glad that a couple of other folk remember the Manx Maid. I recall her doing the Belfast to Douglas run in the seventies, along with other ships like the King Orry and Lady of Mann. Marvellous crafts, but they'd probably seem very antiquated now compared to today's sleek vessels!

Re. the Summerland Fire, I was caught up in the disaster and should be able to clarify some details for anyone interested. I must also pay tribute to the kindness of the Manx people to folk like me who were injured.

[Robert E Wilson]

Does anyone remember the terrible fire at Summerland on The Isle of Man in 1973?

We went to the TT races there in 76 and my Dad pointed it out, it was rebuilt quite insensitive really considering 51 were killed there - there is a short clip on youtube,.

I posted a couple of comments on Youtube after seeing the clip. I survived the Summerland Disaster with relatively minor burns, given that I was near the top of the building when it went up. I can confirm many details of the things that happened and am happy to share / compare my experiences with others.