Steve White, the custodian of the Overend Collection, sent me a fascinating snippet about the fire photos.
One slight correction to your blog: Leslie Overend didn’t actually take the fire pix, though he did take the aftermath pix.
Leslie was in the Isles of Scilly in August 1961 scattering the ashes of his wife, Doris, who had died at Christmas 1960.
The couple married in 1955 (she was proprietor of the Town Hall Cafe, Queen Street - more properly: the Rendezvous Café in Town Hall Buildings).
They had planned to move to the Scillies to open a restaurant, but Doris became ill.
Les told me he was alerted to the fire by a waiter at his hotel in the Scillies who had heard the story on the radio.
Les grabbed a phone, and got a girl in the shop he then ran (a newsagents almost opposite the Town Hall) to take the fire pictures.
Morley was fairly deserted that week anyway, as it was Morley feast.
There are a couple of photos of the clock tower bells in the Leodis archive here and here. Apparently the air raid siren is still in-situ.
