THE sister of a woman killed in an explosion at the Broughton Moor armaments depot 67 years ago is calling for a permanent memorial to be included when the site is redeveloped.

Eleven people died in a blast at the Royal Navy depot on January 18, 1944, including Ann Straughton Wilson, of Sunnyslack near Broughton Moor.

Mrs Wilson died in the explosion after swapping shifts with a friend.

Her sister Vena Farish, 85, of Ryehill Road, Flimby, is leading a new call for a memorial to be included as part of the proposed redevelopment of the site, now known as Derwent Forest.

Seven women and four men died after a naval mortar bomb, being dismantled in a laboratory, detonated.

Each bomb contained 25 pounds of TNT explosive and the building was scattered in pieces.

The tremor was felt 15 miles away.

Those who died alongside Mrs Wilson included Miss Mary Smith, 39, of Maryport; Robert Swanston, 43, married, of Cockermouth; Mrs Patricia Scutts, of Great Broughton; Mrs Mary Katherine Barnes, 31, of Seaton; Edward Lynch, 53, of Dearham; Mrs Elizabeth Moses, 47, of Little Broughton; and Miss Jane Lister, 18, of Dearham.

Mrs Farish said the names of victims who came from Broughton Moor were on the village cenotaph, but all 11 names had never been listed together elsewhere as a memorial.

She said: “These were people who died in service just as those who were fighting overseas.”

She said she would like to see a small memorial garden and a plaque containing all the names.

Mrs Farish discussed her wish with Allerdale councillor Peter Kendall at a Remembrance Sunday service last November.

He has agreed to urge the council to make a memorial a condition of the redevelopment.

Coun Kendall said: “I have already spoken to some officials and councillors at Allerdale and there seems to be a willingness to get something done. These people died in service to their country and should be remembered.”

Mrs Farish said: “I remember very clearly the day my mother’s cousin came to me at work to tell me there had been an explosion at Broughton dump.

“We lived at Sunnyslack and I was working at the shoe factory in Cockermouth.

“We knew Ann was at work and we knew she would have been killed but it was not until my birthday, on February 3, that she was formally identified.

“During that time things that had been recovered were taken around to try and help identify the bodies.

“I remember the vicar bringing a wedding ring to us but it wasn’t Ann’s.”

Mrs Wilson should not have been at work on that fateful day but her husband Harry had just been invalided out of the army with a hearing problem and Ann had swapped shifts with a friend so that she could stay at home for his birthday.

Another sister Ellen, who also worked at the dump, was lucky to escape the explosion.

She depended on Mrs Wilson to take along enough packed lunch for them both and was walking towards a laboratory building where Mrs Wilson worked when the explosion happened. Ellen escaped with minor injuries but suffered severe shock.

Their father Fred Straughton also worked at the dump but had left because of safety concerns over the number of people taking cigarettes and matches to the site.

But Mrs Wilson said the blast hastened her father’s death.

She added: “He never looked up after Ann died and he died two years later.”

A developer is due to be selected next month to take on the Derwent Forest scheme.

The site is owned jointly by Allerdale Borough Council and Cumbria County Council.