YOUNG Joseph Hunt was only 10 years old when he attended his father's funeral in 1926.

But he still remembers the day as clearly as if it were yesterday.

His father, also called Joseph, was a well-known fireman and had perished after a blaze at Oulton Park Hall.

The funeral took place in Tarporley and, according to his son, there's never been one like it since.

"There were so many people - they couldn't fit into the churchyard, let alone the church. He was so well known," said Mr Hunt.

The family contacted us after we published a photograph of the funeral in the last edition of Market Place.

Young Joseph recalled: "I was at Tarporley church on the day of the fire because I was in the choir.

"The vicar came up to me and told me to go home to my mother - but he didn't tell me why."

He added "It was a terrible shock, I had seven sisters and my mother was left to bring eight of us up on her own."

The Hunt family has given many years of service to the Fire Brigade.

Joseph senior was on duty when crews were sent to Oulton Park Hall.

He was on the ground floor trying to recover priceless artefacts when without warning the roof collapsed. Joseph was taken to hospital but only survived a few hours. He was 48 years old. Five volunteers, who were helping him out with the salvage operation also perished.

Grandson Maurice Hunt, also involved in the fire service, has spent many years researching the incident. "There have been a lot of theories over the years as to how the fire started, I don't know where some of these stories come from," he said

"In two years time I shall be revealing my findings to mark the 75th anniversary of my grandfather's death.

He added: "One thing I do want to get straight is that although a national collection was made for the people who perished, the money was never distributed."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.