Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Demolition of Oak and Eldon Gardens

Hi all. I worked for Ogdens, when they demolished Oak and Eldon,and did the drilling and burning,on the windows which can be seen in the photos. which enabled the way the buildings fell inwards...also did the drilling and laying of the charges but not laying the Cortex, the line or fuses,as it was too dangerouse,i believe...the actual explosive was useless on its own and useful for lighting the fire....When the buildings were blown I was stationed on the St lawrences junior school roof, to signal the area was clear...and was really surprised when the flats eventually were blown at the shock waves. near blowing me off my feet...the end of oak gardens refused to fall and Mick (the boss) had to go in and set the charges again as the cortex got severed by flying debris thus not allowing the charge to carry on,,,so it took two blasts to finish them off............I have some foties which have never been published so ill add them on here soon........Kind regards to all

I was the police beat officer on duty the night before the flats were demolished. My understanding is that the reason part of the building did not collapse was that our inspector drove his car where he should not have done and broke some wires.

We had a number of problems in the weeks leading up to the big day with former residents breaking back in to grab souvenirs

I finished duty at 7am and hung around to watch the deed. I had worked out that there would be a lot of dust and so I stood upwind. Some were not so forward thinking and got hit by the cloud.

I think I am right in thinking that this was the first time in the UK that a block of flats had been blown up in this way.

About 9 or 10 am. I had just finished shift as the policeman on that beat. I hung around to watch the show before going home to bed!