Got Calder Hall Photos in the Loft? The Beacon Wants to See Them Share Your Calder Hall Memories at the Beacon's 70th Anniversary Exhibition
Marra Mode is how we'd tell you this in the Co-op. Switch it off for the straight version.
Calder Hall turns 70 this month. The Beacon's putting on a free pop-up from 19 to 25 October and wants your old photos, keepsakes and stories.
If you or your family ever worked at Calder Hall, or you just remember those four cooling towers on the skyline, the Beacon in Whitehaven wants to hear from you.
Calder Hall turns 70 this month. The Queen opened it on 17 October 1956. It was the first full-scale nuclear power station anywhere in the world to put electricity into a national grid. It kept going for 47 years until it shut in March 2003. The cooling towers came down in September 2007, and the last of the fuel came out of its four reactors in 2019 as part of the clean-up at Sellafield.
To mark it, the Beacon's running a free pop-up called 70 Years of Calder Hall, from Monday 19 to Sunday 25 October, 10am till 4pm. The idea's simple. Dig out the old photos, paperwork, badges or whatever you've got tucked away, bring them in and share your stories. It all goes towards what the museum's calling a living archive of the place.
There are two free talks as well, called Demolition of an Icon, by Jason Bone from Sellafield Ltd. They're on Tuesday 20 and Thursday 22 October at 2pm, with refreshments thrown in. There are only 30 seats a time, though, so you'll need to book.
So have a rummage in the loft this weekend and get yourself down to the Beacon next week. All the details are on the What's On page of the Beacon's website.
Seventy years after the Queen opened Calder Hall at Sellafield, the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven is holding a free exhibition from 19 to 25 October and asking people to bring photographs, memorabilia and memories.
This is for anyone with a connection to Calder Hall: people who built it, worked there or grew up with its cooling towers on the skyline, and their families. The Beacon Museum in Whitehaven is collecting photographs, memorabilia and memories of the station to mark 70 years since it opened.
Calder Hall, on the Sellafield site, was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 October 1956. It was the first industrial-scale nuclear power station in the world to supply electricity to a national grid. It ran for 47 years before closing in March 2003. Its four cooling towers were demolished in September 2007, and the station's four reactors were emptied of fuel in 2019 as part of Sellafield's decommissioning work.
The free pop-up exhibition, 70 Years of Calder Hall, runs from Monday 19 to Sunday 25 October, 10am to 4pm each day. The museum describes it as a community exhibition celebrating the people, memories and stories connected to the station and West Cumbria's nuclear heritage. Whatever people bring along will help build what it calls a living archive of the station's 70-year legacy.
There are also two free talks, Demolition of an Icon, by Jason Bone of Sellafield Ltd, on Tuesday 20 and Thursday 22 October at 2pm, with refreshments included. Places are limited to 30 per talk and need to be booked in advance.
If you have pictures, documents or stories, take them to the Beacon during exhibition week. Details are on the What's On page of the Beacon's website, thebeacon-whitehaven.co.uk.