The Kirks revisit the scene of the fire Picture: JON GUEGAN (00807660)

SMOULDERING glances are, of course, expected on a honeymoon but an actual fire is never ideal.

It is little wonder, then, that Yvonne Kirk looks a little less happy in this picture taken on Sunday 31 August 1969 on the pavement outside the Moorings Hotel in Gorey.

Newlyweds Yvonne and Tony Kirk had clambered out of their bedroom window and down a ladder to the pier below after fire had broken out in a cupboard in the hotel.

‘The fire was in one of the cupboards in the corridor and we were in one of the end rooms. We shouted down for someone to get a ladder and a young boy fetched one from the boats below and we climbed down,’ said Mrs Kirk.

Tony and Yvonne Kirk pictured in 1969, after they had clambered to safety (00807659)

The couple were offered a room at the nearby Dolphin Hotel and also recalled that she and Mr Kirk hired a Triumph Spitfire. They did try to rent a Spitfire for this year’s trip, but had to settle for a more modern convertible. ‘We had a wonderful time,’ she said.

Forty years – and a couple of months – later they are back, newspaper clipping and original photograph in hand, and have returned to the Moorings to belatedly celebrate their anniversary with a walking holiday and to stay in the same hotel that they had spent their honeymoon in.

Mrs Kirk said that although the couple and their children had visited the Island during the intervening years it was the first time since that first visit that they had stayed at the Moorings.

The JEP report of the event indicates that much of the damage was restricted to the airing cupboard, in which the fire had started, with minor damage to some guest rooms affected by the smoke.

According to the report only two guests were unable to leave their room by the door and had to exit using the balcony – namely, the Kirks.