Personal Stories

Maureen Davis

Maureen came along to the workshop at The Hive. She told us:

'My father [Frank Howarth] worked there from 1949 to 1965. He worked shift patterns. He would work either 9am to 4pm or 4pm to 11pm and if he worked the night shift it was midnight to 9am. These were rotated over 7 shifts a week.

He was a shift charger responsible for ensuring the generators and turbines were working properly.

They had people on switchboards making sure the power was going to the right places, the generators were working, the turbines were working and the screenhouse was taking in water and the coal was coming in and out. There was a big coal shute, right across Tybridge Street and piles of coal, like the Malvern Hills, on the side of the road.

Photograph of Maureen Davis

Photograph taken as part of filming by Tigerfeatures

Some names of people who worked with my dad:

Mr Wainwright - he lived in St John's, his wife was injured by the bombs dropped at Meco
Mr Milne - he'd worked in submarines during the war
Mr Cutler - he lived in St John's as well
Mr Kettlewaite - he became the Superintendent.

They used to have Christmas parties, jointly with the MEB and the Generating Board. I used to go. They had a present list and you could choose what you wanted.

It [the power station] employed a lot of people. The whole place was men'.

Image from Hive workshop - Worcester.

Photograph taken by Crave Arts

Photograph of Robert Davies

Photograph taken as part of filming by Tigerfeatures

Robert Davies

Robert came to the public workshop at The Hive:

'The power station was a dominant feature with the three funnels which looked like the Queen Mary [ship] by the side of the river.

In my second job I worked for Midland Shire Farmers building at County Mills which was right opposite the Power Station on the other side of the river. [When MSF moved its offices into the former power station] I had the opportunity of having a tour round the power station before its complete destruction and one of the workers took me round there so I saw all the generators. They were massive - it was massive inside, a completely open structure, which was fascinating really. I would have been in my early 20's at that time. It was absolutely astonishing the amount of machinery that was in there, and the equipment. The building was so high inside that I expected to see different floors and sections in there but it was all open. It was a big, open shell of a building when I saw it. [When it was demolished] people were amazed to see an open space, because it took such a dominant position - you couldn't avoid seeing it.

I can remember the great big coal tunnel going across the road from the coal storage'.

Roger Mason

Roger came along to our reminiscence workshop at Diglis Island.

'Thank you for a very informative and interesting presentation on Worcester’s power station, it brought back lots of memories from the 60’s and 70’s.

My wife worked in the right hand building in front of the power station, this was in 1974/75 when the building was used by Midland Shire Farmers advertising department. The photo shows her sat on the first floor overlooking the river with Blackfriars car park in the distance'.

Mrs Mason looking out over the River Severn, from a building in front of the power station. Photograph kindly supplied by Roger Mason

Lionel Buswell

Mr Buswell came along to our workshop at Platform Housing. He had a fantastic memory for his time working in The Hylton Road, Power Station. He was 14 years old when he took the job of office boy for the power station in the 1940s. We were fortunate to meet Mr Buswell as one of our reminiscence workshops. He told us how he would cycle all over Worcester on errands for the power station.

'I lived on Bransford Road as a child. In 1942, I saw the German bomb go over [to the MECO factory] . I saw the bombs drop - I was opposite the Portobello [pub] on the Bransford Road. I knew it was a German plane because of the swastikas on the side. Three bombs dropped . I dashed home and Auntie Lizzie was under the kitchen table. I was 10/11.

In 1945 I started working here [at the Power Station]. I was 14. I started on Monday 31st December, my two years working there. I used to cycle to collect the post from the Guildhall. A chap took me round on my first day so I knew the territory, we stopped at a cafe near the Five Ways hotel. I had a chelsea bun - I remember that like it was yesterday!

On two occasions during the floods I walked from Bransford Road to Henwick Station. I walked along the embankment, which wouldn't be allowed today, then to the place of the conveyor belt, then up the side of the conveyor belt to the top, walked across and into the main building, got into the lift and back down, and I was in the office [avoiding the flood water].

Mr. Lionel Buswell and Sheena Payne-Lunn.

Photograph taken by Crave Arts

I worked in the office - one of the things I did do, because of the war, all of the application forms for electricity, for any alterations, nobody had ever filed them. The main office, it went back a long way, and at the back there must have been 24 filing cabinets from A-Z and you had to file every one in strict alphabetical order and because of the war nobody had filed them, dust was on them and they were stacked high all along the cabinets - there were thousands and thousands and thousands and I did the lot! If I didn't do the delivering, the Bob Reece would do it. I was 14 years of age but I used to go and get cigarettes for them [the workers]. Incredible isn't it.

On the other side [of the building] were two important gentlemen, Mr Hudson and Mr Tanner.

I used to know the people who worked the furnaces. I used to go and speak to them. [I wasn't meant to go in the main generating room but] I never got cautioned at all. It was hot in there. When they opened the doors you could hear the roar of the fire and the heat from it all.

There was a big pavilion [for the social activities] which is still there today. A main hall with table tennis, darts, and the bar. On the right hand side was the billiards room and a chap, Saunders, used to teach me to play billiards. In front was the bowling green and on the right of that was the tennis courts. I used to play tennis there. They used to have dances there. An older man, an ex employee used to sit at the gate with a coal fire and put jacket potatoes on there. Happy memories.

My boss was firm but he was a nice chap. My first pay packet was one pound and three shillings'.

Photograph of 1945 floods from Worcester City Council Historic Environment Record

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