A WEST Somerset mum missed her son's wedding after falling victim to the volcanic ash cloud chaos which hit Britain at the end of last week.

Lorraine Tribe and husband Ken were due to fly home from Morocco last Thursday - the day all UK flights were suspended amid fears the ash from an Icelandic volcano could damage aircraft engines.

At first Lorraine, a classroom assistant at Stogumber Primary School who also helps out in the village's White Horse public house, remained upbeat, thinking the flight-ban would only be shortlived.

Family and friends back in the UK offered moral support and hoped Lorraine would be back in time for son Daniel Barnes' big day in Stogumber Church last Saturday.

A flight was organised to take Lorraine and Ken - who had been celebrating their own wedding anniversary - to Dublin on Friday, from where they would catch a ferry to Wales and friends would drive them back to Somerset.

But the flight was cancelled at the eleventh hour and Lorraine resigned herself to the fact she would not make the church on time.

Daughter Leanne Hill, who stepped in to cover some of her mother's shifts at the White Horse despite being pregnant and having two young children to care for, said Lorraine had been devastated to miss Daniel's wedding to Kelly Gande, from Luccombe.

"Obviously everyone was upset and she's made herself ill over it," she said. "She kept saying everything was all right as she was booked on a flight the next day, but when it didn't happen it made her so emotional.

"She's picking herself up slowly but she's had enough now. She's accepted she's missed it and now just wants to get home."

Leanne added: "Thankfully they're being looked after and Ken takes it all in his stride.

"They married a couple of years ago in Barbados and always go away around Easter time to celebrate their wedding anniversary, so it's a double blow for them really."

The situation was made worse by the fact Daniel, 24, is a serving soldier and only had a limited amount of leave from his regiment, the Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers.

He and new wife Kelly did not even have time for a honeymoon and are already back on base.

But the couple have promised to hold a blessing at a later date, while Stogumber resident Peter Morrison offered his expertise free of charge and videoed the wedding and the reception from start to finish to ensure Lorraine did not totally miss out on the day.

Lorraine and Ken eventually managed to get home late on Wednesday evening.

Other West Somerset residents also found themselves stranded as airspace was closed across northern Europe as well as Britain.

Luxborough student Alastair Duke, 17, was on holiday with school friends in Meribel in the south of France and was due home last Friday in time to return to Millfield School on Sunday.

But with the airports closed and French train workers on strike, the group had no option but to make an epic road trip across France to catch a ferry back to the UK.

The six-strong group hired a taxi for the journey - luckily the tab was picked-up by a friend's father who had to get back to Britain for work - and ten hours later they arrived in Calais where they caught a ferry to Dover.

From there they were met by a family friend who drove them to Ashford in Kent, from where they took a train to St Pancras in London, a tube to Paddington Station and another train to Bristol.

Mum Jennifer was on hand to pick Alastair up in Bristol and he finally arrived in West Somerset at 2am the following morning.

"It was all a bit of an epic really but he's done rather well out of it as I didn't have the heart to send him straight back to school and he got an extra weekend snowboarding," Mrs Duke said.

Another casualty was the Bishop of Taunton, the Rt Rev Peter Morris, who was due to preside over a thanksgiving service this Sunday at Cutcombe's refurbished parish church of St John.

The service will still go ahead at 10.30am as planned but under the guidance of retired bishop George Cassidy, as Bishop Peter is stuck in Cairo and not expected home for some days.

The service will mark the completion of a project to restore the historic church after parts of it were gutted in a £200,000 arson attack.

There was one plus point for those not caught up in the travel chaos - the fine particles of volcanic dust in the atmosphere created some truly stunning sunsets.

Free Press readers Terry and Marian Matthews were on North Hill on Saturday, where a number of photographers had gathered to make the most of the natural spectacular.

Mrs Matthews said: "This amazing picture was taken by Terry. It show's the sun's reflection split cleanly in two like a strange broken pillar by the ash cloud.

"The phenomena lasted for about ten minutes. Twice, just for a few brief seconds, the ash cloud could be clearly seen as a dark streak across the sky.

"Fortunately, my husband's photo caught the moments. Truly breathtaking!"