Calder valley
This lamp was rescued from landfill in Calder Valley during the extensive flooding of Boxing Day 2015.
Along with dozens of other local residents, Claire Godden worked into the night through electricity blackouts to load the ruined debris of their homes and businesses into a truck, fearful that further flooding could wash it all downstream.
“This lamp caught my magpie eye not only because it was something shiny in a sea of black sludge that was coating the whole town”, Claire explained, “but also because it was something useful in a town with no electricity”.
“Nearly 3 months later the initial shock has given way to a general anxiety. By hook and by crook people have battled to reopen their businesses and homes against the financial odds and with the help of strangers’ kindness.”
2015 was the wettest year in UK history – another example of extreme weather becoming commonplace in our warming world.
“The oil giants like BP need to know their days are numbered. It’s them or us that has to go. They cannot hide their indifference to climate change behind cultural institutions any longer”
— Claire Godden, local resident.