The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A 92-year-old former rodeo herder had a lucky escape after his Surfleet Seas End home went up in flames in the early hours of Saturday morning (April 14) but those he lives with have been left with almost nothing.
Frank Banks only noticed his car and house on Reservoir Road were on fire after being woken by the flood gates closing next to his home around 2.30am.
His wife Christine and fellow home-owner Bob Holmes who lives with the couple were both in Scotland at the time visiting one of the Banks’ elderly relatives.
The trio have lived in the home that was partly built around an 1897 railway carriage for nearly two years.
After escaping through the conservatory, Frank, who has a pacemaker and heart stents fitted after a triple bypass, climbed over fences before knocking on doors with the walking stick.
Fire crews from Donington, Kirton and two from Spalding attended the blaze which they say was caused by an electrical fault on a Suzuki Celerio parked alongside the house. The couple say the vehicle had only been driven for 2,000 miles.
“At first I thought it was someone with a torch outside,” Frank said of seeing flickering light. “Then I saw the flames were as high as the roof. By the time I came out the fire was already licking the roof and melting the guttering.
“I was doubly lucky as I fell over one fence but was able to get back up.
“I was banging so loudly on doors it broke my walking stick,” said Frank of his vintage stick that’s hollowed out to contain the coins of the first wage he ever earned.
“The fire brigade were called and they were excellent,” he continued.
Christine and Bob were alerted at 4am and immediately drove down from Scotland less than 48 hours after arriving there.
Christine said: “I just felt ill when I heard. I was falling all over the place.
“We’re all alive – that’s the main thing.”
Except the clothes Christine and Bob took for their stay in Scotland, all three have lost all they had, including sentimental possessions such as Bob’s remaining pictures of his late wife Yvonne.
But they are insured and Frank has an optimistic outlook thanks to an incredible life which includes working as a rodeo in the Australian outback for several years.
The trio were particularly stunned when a couple who have a holiday home in the village abandoned their own holiday to offer their chalet to them free of charge.
“It’s an incredible act of kindness from complete strangers,” said Frank. “It was pretty much all new stuff we lost in the fire as when we moved here we left the old stuff behind for two old people who had little, so we do have to start again.
“But I don’t care about money. My name’s not Beyonce and my body’s not the same shape.
“I was a rodeo worker herding horses in the Australian outback for so many years and wherever I lay may hat was where I stayed.
“If anything goes wrong you just get over it and I’ve always had that philosophy.
“It shouldn’t take long to fix up and we’re all safe.
“Somebody said to me I bet you’re going to move again now, but no way. We love it here and have a lovely life here.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
