The explosion which rocked Sunderland

Memories of the 1974 telephone exchange blast from a man who was there.

Transcript

00:00 50 years ago, Sunderland was rocked by an explosion in a telephone exchange.

00:08 Sunderland Antiquarian Society historians Philip Curtis and Ron Lawson, who was on the

00:13 scene shortly after the blast, have taken a look back.

00:18 The Bishop Wearmouth telephone exchange, which stood just across the road from the Barnes

00:23 Roundabout, was completely destroyed in the explosion in 1974.

00:29 A spark had ignited gas which had filled the building, and the blast could be heard across

00:34 the town.

00:36 Nearby properties were damaged and thankfully no lives were lost.

00:41 First on the scene in 1974 was Ron Lawson, now 90, who was working in the exchange's

00:48 construction department at the time.

00:51 For the next six weeks, Ron worked 13 hours a day, with lots of overtime, to transfer

00:57 the whole operation to the East Herrington Phone Exchange.

01:03 Philip's article about the explosion is included in the latest newsletter from Sunderland Antiquarian

01:08 Society.

01:10 If you have memories of that day, email chris.courtner@nationalworld.com

01:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]