Clacton: One Month Since Gas Explosion

5 March 2014, 00:00

A community in Clacton says it has been brought closer together by a gas explosion that destroyed two homes.

It is a month since nine people were injured - two seriously - in the blast on Cloes Lane which some residents likened to the sound of a bomb going off. 

Where the two homes most badly damaged used to stand now sits a pile of rubble after they pulled down and treatment continues for those who were mostly seriously injured. 

In the hours after the explosion, a Facebook group was set up aimed at raising support and donations for those affected. 

Within days it had garnered hundreds of donated items from food and clothes, to electrical goods and furniture. 

A month on Patrisha Turner, who helped set up the group, says thousands of items have been donated and more than £4,000 has been raised. 

She said: "The whole community has come together, we're like one big family now. "Everybody's looking out for each other, helping each other. It's absolutely fantastic. 

"A little boy gave me his pocket money, it was 50p, and then another boy gave me £2.50. I felt guilty taking it off them, but they wanted me to have it because they care." 

She added she has had a great reaction from the people directly affected: "They keep saying 'thankyou' to us and I keep saying 'you don't have to say thankyou because that's what we're here for. This is what we call a community'. 

"The community has pulled together and that's what we're all about. It's been absolutely fantastic."