ONE man is on a personal mission to keep the memory of Didcot Power Station alive even after it is completely demolished.

Ed Byard from Long Wittenham has fond memories of driving past the six cooling towers at the coal-fuelled electricity station every day as a child.

And the 33-year-old, who now lives in Abingdon, is now embarking on a project to document the history and stories about the site.

The software developer said: “The first thing I am doing is going through the county archives, as all of the records from the power station have ended up there.

“I’m hoping that there’ll be a few people in the records that I can speak to about life at the plant.

“There are lots of friends of the family who worked at the power station and I’m sure they would want to contribute.”

On Monday, Mr Byard was one of a number of visitors invited to the demolition site of Power Station A, which was destroyed in a controlled explosion last year.

He visited the site as part of a competition to name one of the demolition machines, by firm Coleman and Company.

On July 27 the demolition company flattened the three 12,000 tonne iconic cooling towers with 180kgs of explosive.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch despite the firm warning the public to stay away.

The remaining three towers at Didcot Power Station B are expected to be demolished next year, but no date has been given.

Demolition of Didcot A’s coal yard finished in November and the 47-hectare site has now been sold to Clowes Developments, which has started consulting the public on a housing scheme.

It wants to build 400 houses, shops, a hotel and pub on the site and residents were shown the plans last month at the Cornerstone Arts Centre.

Mr Byard said: “I think when the towers were demolished they began to realise how important they were to so many people. [But] it’s getting to the point where you won’t realise the power station was here, except for the chimney stack.

“In a way it is incredibly sad because the power station meant so much to so many people.”

Now Mr Byard hopes to create a digital archive of pictures and memories from people who worked at the “Cathedral of the Vale”.

He has embarked on a project to create an historic account of the power station, which was built between 1965 and 1974, online.

He hopes that members of the community and people passionate about the power station will tell their stories.

The site, which will be called didcotpowerstation.com, is expected to go live in September.

* If you have old pictures of Didcot Power Station, or previously worked at the plant and have a story to tell, email alex.regan@oxfordmail.co.uk