People gathered in the Esplanade Gardens in Hunstanton on Saturday to mark the 72nd anniversary of the town's darkest night.

Hunstanton Mayor Cynthia Easeman lays a wreath at the town's flood memorial (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mayor Cynthia Easeman laid a wreath from the town council during the service, which was led by the Rev Lyn Page.

As the 50 or so who had attended dispersed, a woman paused at the stone tablet which bears the names of the 31 who died when a North Sea storm surge hit the town on January 31, 1953.

Dorothy Ward traces the names of the class-mates she lost on Hunstanton's memorial to those who died in the 1953 floods (Image: Chris Bishop)

Dorothy Ward, 84, traced some of the names with her fingers before leaving.

"Some of them were my classmates," said lifelong Hunstanton resident Mrs Ward. "There was little Herbie Branch, he was just six, he was living in the first bungalow that got hit.

Dorothy Ward, who lost some of her classmates in the 1953 floods (Image: Chris Bishop)

"He was a lovely little American boy, he was only six, they all loved him at school.

"I was 12 when it........

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