Heather shares her memories :

My parents-in-law had only just moved from the New Forest into their newly-built home in Lancing.  Part of their new fence went down and their newly-erected TV aerial but everything else was fine.

We awoke to hear the door bell ring very early but by the time that we put some clothes on to answer the door the person had gone.  We started getting up and then we heard the bell again.  This time it was one of our next door neighbours to ask if we were ok.  We said that we were and  wondered why they had asked.  Then the other next door neighbour came round asking the same question saying that had been round previously.  We wondered what the concern was and then they told us.  All five of us (including our dog) had slept through it.  The only evidence was that the hatch to our roof space had been blown open.  I sent the children to school at The Willows and Irene Avenue Middle School but they soon came back as the schools were closed and the field between them was covered with trees which had been blown down.  Apparently the then Head Mistress of Irene was thinking of renaming the School The Poplars but only one Poplar was left.  It was later renamed Oakfield because the might oaks remained.

At around noon on 15th October 1987, a storm was being formed off western France in a sea area. called the Bay of Biscay. There was nothing originally to suggest what was to happen later, the storm was what might be expected at the time of year. A storm but nothing dramatic. The Met office gave a warning of impending high winds.

At around 18.00 hrs, for reasons not understood even today, the storm began to intensify dramatically as it approached Southern Britain. The storm was predicted to move along the English Channel and then onwards to Scandinavia. The prediction proved wrong, the storm came inland over Cornwall and Devon and tracked across the south of the country during the early hours of October 16th.

Denis recounts this story ........

Hello Andy, Your request for articles prompts me to repeat this one from that day and I swear it's true....

When I eventually managed to report for duty on that fateful day and after getting the mundane tasks sorted many of us started nattering  about the trials and tribulations we had suffered and witnessed. One of the lads who lived at the top of the hill behind Lewes Prison - a particularly exposed to the elements spot was asked "well how did you get on then Jonah, much damage ?". After a considerable pause for thought Jonah gave his answer. "Well" says Jonah, "the old greenhouse at bottom of garden didn't come out of it too well --------- but then again when I went to bed last night I didn't even own a flippin greenhouse!!!!!".