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 driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant 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 Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
EDF is enabling its 5 million customers, both in business and at home, to choose electric solutions that save cash and carbon, whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing solar panels or a heat pump. In 2025, EDF’s Customers business was ranked as one of the Sunday Times’s Best Place to Work.
It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are 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, one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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