When Tom Jones felled a 270ft chimney in Sunderland
’It was a grand experience’ said Tom Jones after felling a chimney in Sunderland.
But this wasn’t the famous singer. It was a retired miner who was given the honour of blowing up the old 270ft chimney at Sunderland power station.
‘Good job I don’t have to shovel that lot away’
It happened 45 years ago and, once it was all over, Tom told a Sunderland Echo reporter: “It is a good job I have not got to shovel that lot away''.
The 79-year-old pressed a button to bring the structure down at the former power station in Trimdon Street.
75 years of Wearside history was demolished
The coal fired station on the banks of the Wear had begun operating in 1901 and was eventually decommissioned in 1976. It was demolished in 1979.
It was also known as one of the features in a 1962 painting of Sunderland by LS Lowry.
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