ABSTRACT
On May 23, 1984, a party of 36 visitors, adults and children from St. Michael’s on Wyre, and 8 staff members of the North West Water Authority (NWWA) assembled at the Abbeystead valve house for a demonstration. The visitors were assembled to observe water flowing through the valve house; but instead a massive explosion occurred, turning the valve house into a crater. Sixteen people died; no one escaped uninjured.
