December 2005
Not many who were in the village on the morning of Sunday December 11th are likely to forget what we were doing at around 6.30am. Most of us were asleep! I know I was when I was awoken from my slumbers by what sounded like a sonic boom. I thought maybe the boiler had blown up. I went downstairs to investigate. Nothing there. I went outside. It was a frosty morning and the sunrise cast a beautiful orange glow across the garden. A least, that’s what it looked like. I took this photo. Social media hadn’t got going at this time so information on what the boom might have been was scant. There were reports that it might have ben a plane crash near Luton Airport but there was nothing on the news bulletins until around 10am. Then the cause was revealed. The big oil depot at Buncefield, about a straight mile from Piccotts End, had gone up in flames. Miraculously, no one was injured though several buildings nearby were severely damaged. Piccotts End got off lightly because we were sheltered from the shockwave by being in the Gade valley. When I arrived at work on Monday morning, 11 miles away, I found all the office cupboard doors blown open!