SURVIVORS and relatives of the 49 victims killed in the Booth’s factory disaster have met to share their stories and discuss plans for a permanent memorial.

More than 70 years after the blaze ripped through the Huddersfield Clothing factory on October 31, 1941, no plaque is in place at the former John William Street site to mark the tragedy.

The survivors and relatives met at a reunion at the Merrie England on Kirkgate.

Florrie Walsh, 84, was working at the factory on that fateful day. “I had only been there six months to the day when the fire happened,’’ she said.

“There were no alarms. Foreman George Thurkill came over and shouted ‘Fire, get out’. When we got to the bottom of the steps outside, the building started to blow up. We were the last to walk out of that door alive.

“I was so lucky and I firmly believe Mr Thurkill saved my life.”

At the time of the disaster H Booth and Sons Ltd was a prominent five-storey converted warehouse that stood back-to-back with the Empire Cinema in the town centre, facing the railway viaduct on the opposite side of the road.

The factory had only one staircase, no evacuation drill and a buzzer system which failed on that fatal morning.

Sixteen-year-old Edie Lockwood was one of those died after she jumped 40 feet from a window to escape the terrifying blaze.

Her brother Frank, 74, explained: “She was a machinist on the top level and jumped from the building to escape.

“Our parents didn’t know she was in the fire because she didn’t have an identity bracelet on. By the time they got to the hospital she had died.’’