‘It was like something from a horror film’

Howling gales couldn’t halt Matlock’s Christmas spirit as the Victorian Christmas Market went ahead despite a marquee being blown away and an organiser injured.
Wind, the large rigid framed marquee that broke loose from its base in Hall Leys Park, MatlockWind, the large rigid framed marquee that broke loose from its base in Hall Leys Park, Matlock
Wind, the large rigid framed marquee that broke loose from its base in Hall Leys Park, Matlock

Alan Scaife, of Special Events, which coorganises the annual event with Matlock Town Council, was left with a broken collar bone and a damaged tooth after high winds swept him off the ground at the same time as up-turning the one-tonne craft marquee.

Alan was helping to set up the event on Thursday afternoon when the storm hit Matlock.

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“The marquee was moving so I cleared everybody out,” he recalled.

“I was the last person out.”

Alan said he had never seen anything like it in the 18 years he had been helping organise the event and the storm reminded him of something out of a horror film.

He added: “It came down the middle of the park, hit the marquee in the middle, broke its back and it went up on its hind legs.

“It was quite scary really.”

Alan said the next thing he knew he was being propelled through the air. The wind threw him about ten or 15 yards.

“I crashed into the benches,” he said.

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The marquee was ripped from the ground and blown into the trees.

Alan was rushed to Royal Derby Hospital for treatment.

Following the incident, organisers managed to salvage what was left of the craft tent and the market was able to go on.

Elsewhere in the Dales, roof tiles and masonry were blown off buildings as severe wind reached up to 50 miles per hour.

Residents reported having their fences and greenhouses obliterated as the winds tore through the area.

One person was trapped in a car at Tissington and had to be released by firefighters after a tree branch fell on the vehicle.

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