Former staff and locals share memories and emotions as stack falls

The first female apprentice to work at Longannet in the 1970s watched with sadness as demolition workers razed the power station’s 600ft chimney.

Cheryl Dick, 59, was only 16 when she started work as an apprentice at the Fife landmark. She cycled with her brother from nearby Kincardine to watch the stack fall.

She said: “I think it is quite sad. It’s the end of an era.”

The now housewife worked at the station for 14 years, latterly as an instrument mechanic on the shop floor.

And the former Scottishpower employee said watching the demolition was a moving experience.

“I felt like I was shot. The actual explosion was quite loud. It’s a feeling of sadness. It’s gone.”

Her brother Neall Dodds, 60, who lives in Kincardine, summed up what the station once meant to people in the local area.

“That power station employed thousands and now it is no longer there.”

The coal-fired station closed in 2016, signalling Scotland’s shift to renewable power sources.

Demolition workers razed the tower at 9am on a crisp, cold morning.

Not long after sunrise, sirens sounded on the banks of the Forth.

Then a loud gunshotlike crack rung out that people heard for miles around.

Looking up, the Fife landmark had gone, replaced by a cloud of dust and debris.

Former plant office worker Maureen Taylor, 71, watched the demolition from the muddy corner of a field on the boundary of the site.

She had “brought a load of tissues” in case the occasion became too much.

“It’s heartbreaking. I can’t believe we are going to watch it come down.”

She said she worked in the office for a few years in the late 60s.

But she had lived next to the plant for most of her life.

“I’ve been here forever. The only thing I didn’t like about living here was putting the washing out. You put it out white and it came back grey.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pressed the button to trigger the demolition. Maureen said Scottishpower should have picked someone with stronger local ties.

“I would have liked to have pressed the button. I lived there for so much of my life.”

Local man Colin Stewart, 66, also watched the tower come down.

“We were here before that (the plant) and we are still here, but it will never be quite like it was,” he said.

“I only wish my grandson could have been here to see it.”

It’s heartbreaking. I can’t believe we are going to watch it come down

Ex-worker Maureen Taylor watched the demolition.