Nostalgia: Demolition expert Derek had a blast

He made LPs, was an after dinner speaker and used gelignite to blow up chimneys.

When he arrived in Glossop a week before Christmas 1970, Derek ‘Blaster’ Bates had already blown up 81.

When developers wanted no longer needed factory chimneys removed they called on demolition expert Derek (pictured below). 

That’s what happened when Dinting Vale Development Company acquired the former printworks site five years after it was shut.

Standing in the way of progress were three 120ft tall chimneys, all 150 years old.

The local landmarks off Glossop Road and Cottage Lane had to go.

News that Blaster was in town had spread like wildfire and he arrived to find an assortment of reporters, photographers, TV and radio crews.

Plus a collection of adults and children, all clustered as close as allowed to the old work site.

Blaster reckoned that 12 pounds of gelignite should shift the lot. He was almost right and four pounds in two of them had them toppling. But the third - with a 4ft square base - was a tougher nut to crack. 

In the end it took another 10 pounds placed in 15 drilled holes before it fell like a pack of cards.

After the job was done, Blaster stood on a huge pile of rubble swapping jokes with the crowd.