Page 31 - Gi flipbook April 2018

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A PECULIAR STENCH

AT ANOTHER GASWORKS, the for several weeks after the open day, She didn’t have the strength to get
engineer decided he wanted to fling which took some time to get used to. out, but between us we managed to
his works open to employees and To see children wandering around pull her clear, none the worse for her
their families, including children, over the site and eating ice-cream was experience apart from being soaked to
one weekend to show our efforts off a strange sight, but they obviously the skin and a little ‘whiffy’ from the
to the locals. enjoyed themselves and parents holder water.
The effect on the place was were able to enjoy afternoon tea Fortunately, the works’ nurse was in
wonderful; for weeks we had about courtesy of our works canteen. We attendance and gave her a check over.
20 workmen cleaning and painting stopped short of giving rides on She was okay, but we did not find
woodwork which had not been the two diesel locomotives usually out how the accident had occurred.
spruced up for years. Instead of the employed in shunting coal and Future visits to inspect the holders
old-fashioned gasworks’ green livery, coke trucks around the area – this were taken with more care. There
we ended up with blue doors and might have been dangerous. I think were three, three million capacity
white window frames, providing us the experience of the families who holders, which had not previously
with a brand new look. Road edges visited the works probably failed to provided any problem to visitors.
were even given a coat of white paint. encourage any of the youngsters to We occasionally demonstrated
Sadly, it stopped there – the coal and seek a job with us, but our tours of the explosive nature of our gas
coke heaps remained untouched. the laboratory opened their eyes by punching a hole in an upturned
Everything looked its best. One to the wonders of chemistry with dustbin, and standing the bin filled
area which had to be improved was simple demonstrations of ‘coloured with gas at an angle, on a brick.
the effluent settling tanks, which water’ changing from red to blue. You may yourselves have done the
treated the water gas effluent. Here, On another occasion, we were demonstration with a treacle tin. If
the stench was quite pungent. We showing a party of nurses from the so, you will know what to do – apply
managed to obtain a small quantity local hospital around the works. a match to the punched hole in floor
of a chemical then named Alamask. Towards the end of the visit, someone of the bin and retire a safe distance
A couple of drops was all that was decided to take a head-count: “We away. As the gas burns, air is pulled
required to change the odour of a huge seem to have lost one of the visitors,” into the bin and eventually the correct
volume of effluent and have a scented he said. I got two of my colleagues mix of gas and air is reached and the
smell more like ladies’ perfume. But to join me in a quick search and whole thing explodes. I recall that we
we had to be careful not to get any retrace the route we had taken. We once achieved a height of about 80
on our boots or clothing. As you discovered the young nurse shouting feet – a record which still stands! ■
might imagine, several of my fellow for help, floating in the water seal of a
workmates did. But, it did the trick three million cubic feet gas holder in a ■ A version of this article first
and the works had a different odour remote part of the site. appeared in The Historic Gas Times

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