A business owner, who watched years of hard work destroyed as his workshop went up in flames, is said to be “absolutely broken” at the loss.
P Richardson Picture Framing in Old Buckenham was reduced to ash on October 10, as a fierce fire swept through the building, destroying the contents and rendering the site uninhabitable.
Fire crews spent three-and-a-half hours battling the flames, as owner Peter Richardson watched on in horror.
Mr Richardson had started the business, which has clients from as far away as London, more than 30 years ago from his living room.
Now, all that is left of his back garden workshop at his Mill Road home is a shell of a building, one screwdriver buried in rubble and a woodburner.
His daughter, Martha, said: “Dad and I were at home at the time and heard the alarms going off. We looked out the window and could just see the fire inside the workshop.”
When the fire crews arrived, Mr Richardson was in the workshop with a hose pipe trying to save as many items as he could.
The fire service had to pull him out as he was still trying to get pictures out, leaving him to watch the flames take hold of the building in disbelief.
Ms Richardson said: “Years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into the business from dad and mum.
“We are all heartbroken and devastated and can’t see a life without this business. My dad is absolutely broken.
“It was only couple weeks ago he was talking about expanding the workshop as he was in need of more room for storage and workspace.”
The 19-year-old said the community really rallied together during the fire and had been incredibly supportive.
“The support on the night was amazing, with people giving us blankets, coats and hot chocolate,” she said. “Since the fire, we have had offers of tools and places for my dad to set up temporarily – it has been absolutely amazing.”
Ms Richardson said her family were still emotionally numb as they struggle to come to terms with what has happened.
“In my 19 years, it is all I have known; it is our livelihood,” she said. “The business is owned by someone passionate about his job – and now that has been taken from him.
“We have a long road ahead of us as we attempt to rebuild the business and get back up and running. It is not going to be easy and will take a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears to get there.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up in the hope of reaching a £10,000 target to help restart the business.
“I started this a day after the fire, as I wanted to do my bit for our family,” said Ms Richardson.
“It is still very raw for all of us as we have lost all of the equipment that was in there, as well pictures from clients.”
Approximately £3,000 has already been donated to the page in a little under a week.
“We faced what can only be described as our worst nightmare: seeing our family business go up in flames with nothing left behind, but people have been so kind,” said Ms Richardson.
“I would like to thank everyone who has supported my family on our worst night, and those that are helping us to rebuild the business by donating.”
Crews from Attleborugh, Higham, East Harling, Watton, Long Stratton and Hethersett attended the blaze.
“We would like to save a huge thank you to the amazing fire crews who came from many stations; you are all amazing and we cannot thank you enough for your service,” said Ms Richardson.
“We just need to rebuild and get back on track now. Any small donation can help us with that and, hopefully, we can come back bigger and better.”
To donate, go to GoFundMe and search ‘Rebuild the business’.
This post was originally published on here
