WHATEVER the future of the Blackburn Meadows site in the wake of the demolition of the two landmark cooling towers last August, it will echo with the voices of people who have lived and worked in the area from 1921 to the present day.
A public arts project, Echoes of Blackburn Meadows, will install an audio trail next to the site of the former power station combining personal histories with archival material from the Golden Age of Electricity.
A research team led by oral historian Jennifer Rich is looking for anyone who remembers the power station before it was demolished in the 1980s and can recall what the landscape looked like and how it changed over time.
They might have had friends, neighbours or family who worked there or were employed at one of the many nearby steelworks which relied on the power produced at Blackburn Meadows.
She is also interested in hearing from people who visited the Sheffield Corporation Electricity Showrooms on Norfolk Street or attended an exhibition which displayed or demonstrated a particular domestic electrical appliance.
"The response so far has been amazing," she says, producing a couple of examples.
Jackie in Woodseats remembers visiting the power station in the 1960s to see her father who began working as an apprentice in 1926 at the age of 15 and stayed until his retirement.
Jackie remembers how stark and clinical it was inside, with shiny brass everywhere and a vast turbine hall with no workers in it. She remembers watching as her father pulled one of the many levers in the control room of the power station, which could change the amount of electricity going to different areas across the city.
In 1936 Bowser from Darnall was working on site at Blackburn Meadows in 1936 making the ducts for the two cooling towers. He was 16 and an apprentice for CH Gillimans & Sons and Bowser remembers the glorious sunshine and how a temporary shelter had to be built because the sun was so strong.
He also remembers the moment he was told by a gatekeeper that a worker had fallen to his death from some scaffolding whilst building one of the cooling towers.
These are the kind of memories which will be fed into the audio installation, comprised of a series of hidden solar-powered transmitters on the public footpaths surrounding the site.
Spoken memories and archival research will be cut and layered to form audio montages, which will be broadcast continuously from the hidden transmitters.
Participants will locate the audio trail using a map, FM radio receiver and a pair of headphones. Sets will be available to hire free of charge from local libraries and mobile phones with in-built radios will also be able to access the information.
The power station was officially opened in 1921 by the Duke of York. Demand for electricity in Sheffield grew rapidly and a brand new turbine hall, boasting the height of technological innovation, was built and unveiled in 1933 by Prince George.
By the end of that year Blackburn Meadows was selected for the Central Electricity Board's National Grid system.
The power station continued to grow and by 1938 the site was home to a pair of concrete hyberbolic cooling towers.
From the 1930s to the 1950s consumer demand was increased by the advent of affordable electrical goods.
Cookers, fridges, washing machines, drying cupboards, vacuum cleaners, toasters, sewing machines, radiators, boilers, electric blankets were just some of the novel devices that could be either bought or hired in the electricity showrooms.
But with the advent of blockbuster power stations such as Eggborough, Drax, Ferrybridge and Thorpe Marsh and with an overall national decline in demand for electricity during the late 1970s, Blackburn Meadows ceased operation and was demolished by the end of the decade.
Jennifer Rich first examined Blackburn Meadows and Sheffield's municipal electrical supply as part of an MA in Landscape and Culture at the University of Nottingham. The demolition of the cooling towers last summer prompted her to harness the public interest in the wider and more dynamic landscapes of the power station.
Sound artists and technicians Lewis Heriz and Tom Dixon make up the team for the project.
In addition to Echoes of Blackburn Meadows, they hope to promote a more sustainable future for electrical production by using renewable energy and an entirely self-sufficient supply of electricity. Along with E.On's planned biomass power station on the site, it provides an interesting way of framing the history of a former coal-powered power station.
Anyone wishing to share memories, stories or experiences should contact Jennifer Rich on 0114 268 0345/ 07841 869882 or at jennifer@sheffieldelectricity.com
More information on Echoes of Blackburn Meadows can be found at www.sheffieldelectricity.com
What do you think? Add your comments below.
MORE:
Local News
Local Sport
Arts Guide
Listings Guide
Restaurant Guide
Letters