Woman recalls horror of holiday park fire which killed 50 people

On August 2 1973 tragedy struck at a seaside resort on the Isle of Man. Summerland was the "holiday town where it never rains, the wind never blows and the temperature never gets chilly."

However for the thousands there on that rainy dayit would be anything but the idyllic description above. Fifty people, including 11 children, died after a fire ripped through Summerland on Douglas Promenade that day. The fire was one of the deadliest on land since WWII.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Summerland disaster, with many feeling that this has been forgotten. Ruth Mcquillan-Wilson was five years old when she visited the resort with her family.

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Ruth McQuillan-Wilson, from County Down, Northern Ireland, was on holiday on the Isle of Man with her late parents Sam and Muriel and two-year-old sister Lynda when the tragedy occurred. The family survived the fire but they never spoke about what happened until after Sam died in 2007.

Now aged 55, Ruth has since been back to the Isle of Man and has gone on to write two books about the tragedy - Made In Summerland and The Silence of Summerland.

Ruth told the ECHO: "I was so excited, until then it was caravan holidays close to home. I was going on this big boat and everyone had been talking in the family about this holiday. I told everyone at school, they thought I was going to Australia or somewhere.

"We didn't know what Summerland was. As soon as you walked through the door, I talk about the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment. I got this golden ticket, only it was a Summerland yellow ticket. It was unbelievable inside. There was so much going on."

Ruth had only been at