SINGER Phil Collins might not have been thinking of Newtown when he penned his hit song Groovy Kind of Love, but the words seem quite apt.
“When I’m feeling blue, all I have to do, is take a look at you,” he warbled in the cover version of The Mindbenders’ 60s classic.
And it sums up how the east Reading residents feel about the gas tower that is soon to be demolished.
Officially known as gas holder No. 4, it is in the process of being dismantled after more than a century of standing guard over the Reading skyline.
It is to be replaced with a block of flats, providing 130 homes.
At the time of the decision, BBC News reported that former Reading councillor Richard Stainthorpe said that the flats would be “a significiant improvement” for the area.
But Newtown residents have some love for the structure that was erected in 1887 – 135 years ago this year.
Before Christmas, an exhibition was held at St John and St Stephen’s parish church in Orts Road, featuring pictures, photos and artwork all featuring the gas tower.
And to document the tower before it disappears for good, Newtown-based photographer Sapna Odlin challenged residents to take a #gastowerselfie, sharing them on social media.
On these pages we present some of them, before the tower disappears.
Last week, decoy birds of prey were installed on the structure in a bid to prevent peregine falcons from nesting there, a sign that the deconstruction is imminent.
