THERE was no getting away from gas in Marsden – its stench hung in the air and it was the subject on everybody’s lips.
And a room in the town’s hub, the Mechanics Institute, was a hive of activity as engineers and council staff pored over maps locating the streets affected by the cut off of supplies to around 125 properties.
One of those affected was Brian Broadley, who lives in a special flats complex on Carrs Road with his wife Edna.
He showed commendable community spirit on checking on all occupants less able than himself including a partially blind and deaf woman and a bed-bound lady, when the gas went off on Tuesday evening.
He said: “They knocked us up at 10.30pm. This morning we woke up really cold.
“It has meant we can’t have a shower or a wash. Hopefully it will get back to normal today.
“I have been round checking on everyone to make sure they are all right.”
One of his neighbours, Wendy Edmondson, added: “I had my tea in the oven but didn’t realise they had switched the gas off so it hadn’t cooked. I had to put it in the microwave instead.”
She was one of many residents given temporary fan heaters to help keep them warm.
Debbie Ainley, a 28-year-old project manager for a bank, was full of praise for the Northern Gas staff who informed her what had happened.
As a mother who had given birth just six weeks ago to her second child Sofia, Northern Gas was understandably anxious to make sure the baby was all right as well as her three-year-old brother Ted.
Debbie, of Carrs Street, said: “At 6pm on Tuesday someone came round and said the gas had been turned off.
“I can’t complain, they were really good. Five minutes later they brought me a little fan heater too.
“They said you have a little baby and a little child.
“It’s a bit cold upstairs. I’m keeping the kids warm by putting extra layers of clothes on them. I put a cardigan on Sofia just to make sure she was a bit warmer.”
