Yee Hah! West Midlander who lost his house in the California wildfires returns to UK to celebrate his dad's 90th birthday with a wild west twist

And it was a joyous occasion at Wordsley Green Community Centre as over 100 members of  Doctor Warren Skidmore's extended family and friends enjoyed a traditional country and western hoe-down for Jim Skidmore's 90th.

It was an occasion scientist Warren, aged 54, thought he might not see after his family home in Altadena, close to Eaton Canyon was destroyed in the first of the fires started in California in January, before they spread across the valley, causing mass destruction, death and devastation. 

Warren, who travelled back for the weekend with his wife Isabelle and daughters Hannah and Isabelle said the family are 'Getting there' having moved from a temporary Airbnb to a long term rental.

And Warren, who has lived in the USA since 2002 with Isabelle after they met at Keele University said he hoped they would be able to rebuilt their family home. He hopes to use money from a JustGiving fundraiser which has now raised over $68,600 to help buy the materials.

He said: "First of all we count ourselves lucky as a lot of people lost their lives in the fires where we only lost our home, as devastating as that is.

"But we managed to stay together at all times as a family and are now in a long term rental apartment, helped by the insurance company which has been great and also members of the LA movie industry believe it or not with furniture donated which has been seen on screen.

"The community in California has been fantastic, not least with the fundraiser which is hopefully going to help with re-building the house, though there is a long route to go down with that yet. I would like to thank everyone in that community and all the well wishes from back home in the UK and worldwide and all the help received,

"But this was a longstanding priority to come back and see my dad Jim who turned 90 at the weekend, my mum Mary and lots of other family members some of who I haven't seen for years.

"The weather wasn't great at the weekend but it was probably no worse that when we left California where we were experiencing mud and rain so it's like a home from home."

Renowned for his love of tea and of taking the Black Country spirit to the USA, what was Warren looking forward to on his UK return the most.

He said: "I long ago sourced English tea in the USA but there is nothing like it here and we went out for fish and chips the first night we were back but this was literally a four day flying visit and the big thing was to spend time with the family and I thank them all for turning out for a great occasion."