Ian

Former Worker
1963-1964

 

HEIGHTS

“You spent a lot of your life climbing up and down these stairs on open grid flooring, so...um, if you had vertigo it wasn't a good idea.”

SAFETY IN THOSE DAYS

“Hard hats were optional at the best of times there was none of this protecting your ears, thats why I can't hear a thing you are saying!”

NEAR EXPLOSIONS

“The thing with running a turbine is that if you think something is going to go wrong, run along the line of the shaft, not the line of the blades.” 

LIFESPAN OF
POWER STATIONS

“All power stations have a limited life, obviously I enjoyed my period there, and you never expect these things to last forever. That is properly the only one that is still standing, I have worked in a lot of buildings. So I think I was pleased to see that the building had been retained and had been given a good use with a valuable future.” 

PUB CULTURE

“ I recall  the sense of camaraderie as my fondest memory during my years at Bankside, there was a strong bond between the teams. I would often go to the Anchor pub, which still exists, especially if our bosses came, as they would pay.

There was a partition of social groups within Bankside, which kept the social community feel within group hierarchies. The Fishmongers Arms, he explains, was a workers’ pub which the men in blue boiler suits frequented. The men in white boiler suits (like himself) would go to the Anchor, the respectable establishment

The pub was quite cosmopolitan and had a good restaurant upstairs which overlooked the river.  Pub culture played a crucial role as it appeared to establish a common ground, allowing the workers at Bankside to establish friendships with their peers beyond the mechanical grind of the power station work.”

-Ian

© Daniela Couling 2016