I almost died at work in Preston when I was 16, now I'm 90 and I need help finding out where it happened

“Until I was called up for national service, I had lived in Preston,” says Clement, now 90. “As an apprentice prior to national service, I was called upon to buy decorating supplies from a company known as Credlands Paint Factory.

“As a boy of 16, I was sent up to repair the chimney by the gable end on the far right of the building,” he adds. “I sat on the apex of the roof for a moment or two to admire the view after I had finished repointing.

“The tiles on the apex were not rounded but formed a triangle, so I moved as it was quite uncomfortable and that started an uncontrollable slide down the roof on the building's years of polished slates,” Clement, who now lives in Devon, continues. “I turned over onto my tummy thinking to get better purchase, but realised my only chance was to drive my toes down and hope they caught in the gutter.

“Luckily the right toe of my shoe dropped into the gutter. As I lay there unmoving, hardly daring to breathe, I realise there might be some difficulty extricating myself from this frightening situation. I started what I knew to be a perilous journey to the safety of my ladder, which was at the very far end of the roof - a considerable distance. The gutter was made of cast iron and not in a good state of repair.

“Slowly, so slowly, and gingerly testing the strength of the gutter but knowing I had to move, I started repeating the move, touching on a slipped slate every now and then, holding my breath until I found my next purchase. As I look back, it was a strange sort of ballet dance, hugging the roof hoping the slates would be sound. It must have taken a good half hour.

“I really did not think I would survive that journey knowing that it required only one slip and the ground below bastion's of concrete retaining blocks awaiting. As I reached my ladder, I clung on, finally able to breathe. I was aware of my body shaking.”

Clement recalls the old factory being about three storeys high and located just outside Preston city centre, possibly on the road up past Preston Prison, somewhere near London Road and St. Paul’s Road. Keen to pin-point where it used to be, he is also appealing for help in trying to find pictures of it.

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“For many years following this event, I would have nightmares every now and then, always ending with me failing to gain purchase and just as I left the roof in my dream I would awaken,” he explains. “The dream followed me well into later life but did finally retreat for good. So you see, I have good reasons for wanting to see and revisit Credlands Paint Factory. 

“It was widely known and used by the professional painters and decorators in Preston, but for some reason it seems to have slipped from Preston memory. I think that the Lancashire Post may be my last hope of finding some record of this quite old building.”