Pupils help mark Visitor Centre’s special day
A primary school with ties to Hartlepool Power Station has helped celebrate a pair of special birthdays.
The station’s visitor centre opened its doors in 2013 and in March 2014 a class from Eldon Grove Academy helped mark the facility’s first birthday with a party.
Pupils from the school made a return trip to help the centre earlier this month, as it finally celebrated ten years since opening its doors.
Louise Taylor, Visitor Centre co-ordinator, said: “We have had an amazing ten years here. We’ve welcomed almost 19,000 people through our doors, hosted school and community groups on visits and made the centre available for all types of special events. It has been wonderful over this time to be able to show off what the power station does and give those who are curious, a rare peek into the energy world.
“It has been extra special for us to celebrate ten years of the visitor centre with friends from the same school that helped us mark one year. Although they’ve been back since then it does feel like we welcomed old friends back in!”
But the pupils were not only there to mark ten years of the visitor centre, they were also there to celebrate more than 50 years of the Teesmouth Field Centre (TFC). The environmental charity, which exists to promote the biodiversity of wildlife at Teesmouth, has been operating since 1970 and for the past ten years has been based in the visitor centre.
Ann Oxley, a Trustee of the TFC said: “ When we realised that our Hartlepool Power Station hosts in the visitor centre were marking ten years, it seemed like a good idea to have a double celebration, especially as pupils from Eldon Grove Academy have been regular visitors to the Field Centre over the years. We have a lot to celebrate. We have been championing this unique landscape of industry and the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve over the years, with a team of staff and volunteers who have worked incredibly hard to lead educational and recreational group visits around the area. An event, with a special cake, is a great way to mark all this activity.”
Pupils from Eldon Grove Academy were given cake and EDF stationery, by Station Director Mark Lees, to mark the occasion.
About EDF
EDF is helping Britain achieve Net Zero by leading the transition to a cleaner, low emission, electric future and tackling climate change. It is the UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity(1) and supplies millions of customers with electricity and gas.
It generates low carbon electricity from five nuclear power stations and more than thirty onshore wind farms and two offshore wind farms.
EDF is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, and there are advanced plans for a replica at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes.
EDF is one of the UK’s largest investors in renewables, with more than 1.5GW of renewable generation in operation and almost 14GW in planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage. We are constructing our largest offshore wind farm in Britain – the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland.
EDF is helping its customers, both in business and at home, take their first steps to sustainably powering their lives. Whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing a heat pump. EDF is one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the largest technical service providers in the UK and Ireland.
EDF is part of EDF Group, the world’s biggest electricity generator. In the UK, the company employs around 14,000 people at locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
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