They'll Still Be Bowling To The Gasworks End.

[sandyRoe]

Will traditionalists be happy to hear that the gasometers near The Oval cricket grounds are to be granted listed status?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35709747

[Old_Geezer]

Gas holders. They aren't there to meter anything ;-)

[stuey]

That brings back memories. I used to walk by "the gasworks" on the way home in Newcastle-under-Lyme as a kid. During the evening, there was always an old guy sitting "guarding' the place sitting close to a coke-burning brazier, smoking a pipe, and sipping from a huge mug.

[jourdain2]

Phew! Gasworks were part of the landscape of my childhood - and it is clumsy to say 'bowling from what used to be the gasworks end'.

[EDDIE51]

The expression is Bowling 'From' the gas holder end, sandy
For those that don't know , there was a long established 'Gay' club situated beside the gas holders near the 'Oval' , hence the expression.

[stuey]

I still don't know how those huge things worked. I recall a sort of huge cylindrical tank going up and down...Anyone know?

[douglas9401]

That's the beauty of gas.

[agchristie]

Those spectators who do not sit down during Tests are subject to a standing charge ;)

[stuey]

It's amazing how little things adhere limpet-like to your mind. I was probably only 6 or 7, but I still recall that old guy with the pipe and mug huddled over a glowing brazier full of aromatic coke.

[agchristie]

How long has the gasholder been there? Seems like Eons ;)

[sandyRoe]

^^^ That deserves the mantle of BA.

[agchristie]

Good evening Sandy! :)

[sandyRoe]

Some one chanted, 'Evening'? :-)
You'd need to be of a certain age to readily connect gas + mantle

[agchristie]

Aye, the old mantles!

[stuey]

Quite an illuminating trip down memory Lane.

[humbersloop]

//a glowing brazier full of aromatic coke//....

..blimey stuey, in my youth the odd whiff of some grass was arrestable!

[stuey]

Very good, HS:) For some reason, I quite liked the smell of coke burning. By the way, we did LSD in school.

[humbersloop]

that'll be pounds, shillings and pence then??

[stuey]

Yes: for a while it was quite mind numbing.

[sandyRoe]

When we were little my bother and I were regularly sent to the gasworks on the Ormeau Rd wih an old pram to get a sack of coke. We must have been poor looking because the workers would sometimes shovel enough coke into the pram to nearly fill it before putting what we'd bought on top.

[stuey]

I used to patrol the rail lines close to Orme Road and collect pieces of coal that had fallen off the wagons. I really don't think I ever got much...But, at the time, I guess I thought I was contributing to the household economy:)