Wigan Album

I'll bet they were nice cushy jobs. Bacon butties, tea and newspapers all day.

What a pity the calender in the background is not visible probably due to the flash.
I can see that they were in a job were they dont appear to be "pulled out" but wouldnt it be nice if jobs these days were as stress free as the photo seems to suggest.

Yes well campers, it may all appear tranquil, sweetness and light etc, etc just now. However you must remember that by its very nature, control room work is always a watching brief ie if it ain’t broke dunna try and fix it! This is one of those jobs were you aren’t paid so much for what you do, as for what you know.
That individual knowledge of the staff, borne out of many years of practical operating experience on the ground, enables the control room staff to quickly identify a fault and/or problem and then lead the solving of the same. There could be anything up to 400,000 volts on the other side of those dials and knobs in some locations, worth bearing in mind I feel!

Agreed! The three gentlemen pictured will have probably had the responsibilty for keeping the station running safely and efficiently and keeping it online. Sounds easy but I doubt it was.

I dont think there would have been such a thing as a cushy job anywhere in those days. These professional-looking gentlemen no doubt took any inherant stress all in their stride, backed up with all the years of experience and a work ethic probably unparalleled these days. I think many these days think stress in any quantity ought not to be a part of any job. And thats why we probably get such frustratingly lousy service and indifferent attitudes in dealing with some sectors of government and businesses these days.

My dad HARRY CROWTHER was the storeman at Westwood. Does anyone remember him and do you know the names of the men in the pic?

Bill Jolley, my uncle, was the manager of Westwood Power station until about the late 80s;. He then moved to the power station in Manchester (not sure of the name). I think he retired in about the mid 90s. I'm sure people who worked there would have known him. He doesn't recall knowing anyone of this particular phoeo, but he said it was before he worked there.

I know both Harry and Bill, when the station shut down I think Harry retired, Bill went to Agecroft power station, this as subsequently been closed down and is now a prison, it was actually in Swinton.

Hi John. Hope you are keeping well. Harry actually retired before the station shut down. He was succeeded by Bill Touhy. I left in
1978 and Bill was still there. In my subsequent employment I visited Agecroft PS and there were several ex Westwood people there. Names of Brian Pearson, Teddy Hatton, Neville Lowe and Peter Yin come to mind. I found it sad that these men who had seen through the closure of Westwood now had to go through the same at Agecroft. Other people with Westwood connections that I dealt with at Agecroft were Mike West (son of Gilbert) and Geoff Tudge (son of Tommy).

Sorry, the Store Managers name was Ronny Touhy not Bill.