a Malvern couple were lucky to escape unharmed after a chimney collapsed through their bedroom ceiling during the gale, writes Phill Tromans.

Pauline and Rowley Hill had just got up on Sunday morning (October 27) when the chimney of their Manby Road home was blown over.

The stack fell through the roof, passed through a top floor bedroom and through the ceiling of the couple's room on the floor below. Bricks, glass and debris were strewn across the bed that Mr and Mrs Hill had been sleeping in minutes before.

"We heard a bang, then there was a clatter of bricks," said Mrs Hill, 64.

"I'm not a panicky woman but I couldn't breathe. I couldn't believe it."

The damage caused to the house is considerable, with the roof, floors and walls all sustaining serious damage. The rooms destroyed in the collapse have only recently had new central heating pipes and wiring installed, but Mrs Hill said the loss of more personal items and the exposure of the house to the elements bothered her the most.

"It's horrendous, it's all the precious bits, buried under there," she said.

"It isn't the amount of money, it's that we were open to the sky. I think that did me more than anything."

Roofing contractor Andrew Bird, who has worked through several gales in Malvern over the past 25 years, said the weekend's storm had been one of the worst he'd seen. He had 70 calls on Sunday.

"The chimney was laying on the actual roof. I dismantled it and got those bricks down," he said.

"It could have just collapsed on in, the extra weight could have pushed the rest of the chimney down into their lounge."

Mrs Hill and her husband, 79, have lived in the house since 1977. They are currently staying with neighbours while trying to sort out an insurance claim for damage caused to their home.

"Everyone round here has been wonderful," she said. "At least we're not hurt."