27 Feb 2023

From our Idaho correspondent

posted in: Big Poles, Country poles, Electricity Poles, Foreign ones, Oddities, Telegraph Poles |

Nathan Unruh is not going to believe me when I write this: Nathan, member #1050 first wrote to me with a photo of a totem pole thingy back in October last year. And then just two days ago I thought to myself “do you know what, you’ve not posted that Nathan Unruh’s photo yet. He’s going to think you’re a miserable git who doesn’t answer emails.” Which is only partially true – I am often miserable, and I don’t always answer emails, but I am not 100% a git*1. Anyway lo and behold just one day after thinking about Nathan, a further email arrives not at all calling me a miserable git. In fact, this one contained another photo of a power pole in Washington (USA, top left) but with dramatically fewer words. So clearly Nathan was already suspicious that emails to telegraphpoleappreciationsociety.org were falling off the end of a wire somewhere and so was saving his fingertip effort and keyboard wear and tear. But they got through Nathan, they got through.

So photo #1 has an impressive power pole with happy buzzing transformer photo-bombed by a totem pole (tall, wooden etc. but no wires coming out the top) with all footballer’s heads on it. We could get into my feelings about Shrewsbury Town FC players’ heads being stuck on a pole/spike here but that’s for a different website. Anyway, this totem pole is called The Old Codger. And it’s in Colfax, Washington (USA, top left).

The second photo, received only the other day is of a versatile mid-country pole in Rosalia, Washington (USA, still top left). So there we have it. Emails to TPAS don’t necessarily disappear into the ether and you should never lose hope

My final point here is why Idaho correspondent when these two photos are from Washington (USA, top left)?Well, Nathan’s address is in Potlatch, Idaho. and surely, like all distances in the USA measured in light years from Washington? But now that I’ve had a look at Google Maps I can see it’s almost right next door. Blimey! I also did a bit of zooming around Nathan’s area on StreetView. And I’d just like to add, at this point, wow !

*1 The true figure is about 93.7% git

  • A totem pole with football player's heads on it called The Codger Pole in Colfax, Washington USA. Behind it a more interesting power pole.
  • A power pole in the prairie steppe of Rosalie, Washington USA. The pole has a selection of signs pointing to elsewhere, anywhere and everywhere.
22 Feb 2023

Pole of the Month – February 2023

posted in: Appreciating, Gorgeousness, Pole of the Month |

I’d normally write something poetic about our POTM contributions. But Shaun Lowde, who sent us this fine example, says it so well that I need not engage my brain’s lyrical waxing cortex for this one.

“Taken near Tafarn Y Bwlch in the Preselis, this simple pole easily outperforms the sunset behind it for raw beauty! This pole is near where I live at the end of a long line of poles (it’s number 6 I think). It is situated very close to what is thought to be the original site of the inner circle of stones that are now at Stonehenge. So, a lovely pointy up thing next to a place where some other pointy up things used to be (but aren’t anymore).“

See! What could I have added to that?

Pole of the month for February 2023 is this rather simple, elegant pole with a stunning sunset behind it. The pole is in silhouette.
22 Jan 2023

N&NB Newsletter, January 2023

posted in: Appreciating, History, Membership, Telegraph Poles, The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society |

Norwich & Norfolk branch of The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society have been quiet for some considerable time. Our fear was that they had diverted their appreciative energy towards canine waste repositories (doggy-poo bins); which abound over on the east coast. A letter from Doreen Bracegirdle (Mrs), Branch chair set our hearts at rest. Their newsletter is reproduced below:

23 Dec 2022

Most Northerly Pole in Mainland Britain

posted in: Appreciating, Big Poles, Electricity Poles, Found Poles, Markings, Photos |

I was getting worried. It’s been so long since I posted on here that I wondered if something might have happened; maybe I’d “moved upstairs” or something. But given the lack of sympathy cards on our mantlepiece and that Mrs. TPAS seems to be cheerfully going about her business I’m probably not meeting my maker and so nothing for it but to get on here and catch up with some emailic inboxing.

Regular visitors to these sage pages will know that we are frequent visitors to the far north (and west). You only have to look at our outstanding 2023 calendar to know that (a handful left for £9.99). Now, I’ve been past it on my way to Orkney several times, but never quite got around to visiting Dunnet Head in Caithness. Turns out I didn’t need to as Jim Irving, who, I think, might be from Glasgow, has been there for us. His penchant, however, is for lighthouses – which whilst being tall and sticky-uppy are only 50% of the way to being tall, wooden, sticky-uppy with wires coming out the top. Anyway Jim got to service both fetishes*1 with this visit.

He travelled north with his colleague and current wife who pretended to be asleep the whole journey to avoid the nerdic conversation emanating from the vehicle’s male occupants. Apparently, their excessive enthusiasm for the poles began to scare all concerned by the time they had finished taking the photos you see below.

Anyway, for clarity’s sake, the pole with “yours truly”*2 in it and with the lighthouse and buildings directly behind is THE most northerly pole.

For more clarity, yes, we know these are power distribution poles rather than telegraph poles per se and we refer to paragraph #2 above which contains a mashed-up version of our society mantra.

Jim says he might be back for a TPAS Mug for his mate at some point. Well if even further clarity is required, he hasn’t yet done so – our order clerks are on standby. And we have a few calendars left too. Have I said that already?

*1 Need to find a better word than this
*2 I always thought “yours truly” was me. Turns out it’s Jim Irving.

  • Dunnet Head Lighthouse, Caithness. With Britain's most northerly pole just in front.
  • Jim Irving with Dunnet Head lighthouse beyond.
  • Danger of Death notice on a power pole at Dunnet Head
  • Inspection placards on a power pole at Dunnet Head
  • Power pole with transformer with Dunnet Head and then Pentland Firth beyond
  • The Doby marks on a power pole at Dunnet Head which read: 9.5m; SPFI, 16, EL, B
  • Jim Irving having a spiritual moment at a power pole at Dunnet Head.
  • Jim Irving, pondering the wonder of nature and telegraph poles at Dunnet Head
  • COBRA preservation placard on a power pole at Dunnet Head
  • Power Pole with Danger of Death notice and a location sign saying Dunnet Heat Lighthouse
  • Close up of a tarry preservation placard on a power pole at Dunnet Head.
  • Mainland Britain's most northerly power pole. Dunnet Head lighthouse behind and Jim Irving trying to remember if he'd turned the cooker off before he left the house.

6 Nov 2022

Calendars and Crimble

posted in: Art, Commercial, General, Stuff for Sale, Telegraph Poles, The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society |

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting worried and turkeys everywhere are wondering “What does January mean?” As advertising copy-writing this opening paragraph seems to be floundering just two sentences in. How to rescue it? I know, here’s the 2023 Telegraph Pole Appreciator’s calendar – yours’ from this very website for a mere £9.99 + postage. I’ve also now included the correct photo for January. The one on the product page is for another month. Can’t remember which one and they’re not back from the printers yet for me to look. I could look at the artwork I suppose, but I’m busy right now. In any case, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

We have been promised these by 11th November and will be sending them out straight away we when get them.

  • A wire bound calendar opened up on January 2023 showing a rural lane in west Wales with a line of telephone poles running off into the distance.
  • A selection of scenes from the 2023 telegraph pole appreciators calendar

And as it’s the season for sending cards. Or someone might have a birthday around this time, or indeed a wedding anniversary or even a valentine’s day. Why not cover all bases with one of our unique Generic-Card-o-Grams. £2.50 + postage. <Get one here>. Available also in pack of 5 for £10. They come with envelopes. We can send some on your behalf if you like. Just tell us who, what and where to.

  • A Generic greeting card
31 Oct 2022

Common or garden pole

posted in: Appreciating, Big Poles, Found Poles, Gorgeousness, Telegraph Poles, Vintage |

An idiom if ever there was. This complex beauty is anything but common. Garden it is though. That of Jon McCollum in Nottinghamshire, actually. Jon had a hunch we’d appreciate this weathered old thing but I don’t think he knew quite how much. No engraving with a date he says, but reckons it was probably erected around 1896. This, to pole watchers, is perhaps what an Iberian Chiff Chaff might be to birders (A venn diagram I also find myself within). I can only wonder at how much a pole like this must add to the value of your home. I’d move to a house with this in the garden. Never mind where it was or how many sheds it had.

An elderly double five-armed pole replete with insulators sprouting from a garden hedge in Nottinghamshire.
21 Oct 2022

Soul test

posted in: Appreciating, Art, dropwires, Gorgeousness, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

You don’t need to consult a fancy shaman to find out whether you have a soul or not. No need for some over paid, under-qualified practitioner to jangle some purple space crystals over your forehead, intensely reading the chakra quanta emanating from your aura. Put your money away. Here is a much simpler, instantaneous test. If the photo below leaves you completely unmoved then you have no soul. None whatsoever. Simple as that. You should immediately apply to 55 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3QL for a research position. If however, this photo sent in by Hazel Long from Brighouse, W. Yorkshire, causes strange stirrings you don’t quite understand then you most definitely do have a soul. There.

Regular readers may well remember back two and a half years to this post {Shot at Dawn}. Hazel must be a baker or post-person or insomniac to so regularly (twice in three years) see dawn. That’s more than I’ve managed in a lifetime.

Distribution Pole in silhouette against dawn red sky at Brighouse, Yorkshire
17 Oct 2022

Duality in the Forest of Dean

posted in: Appreciating, Country poles, Found Poles, Gorgeousness |

Karen Hughes, member #1107, sent us these pics to share with our fellow appreciators of all things tall, wooden, sticky-uppy and with wires coming out of the top. These are from where Karen lives in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. They are indeed very appreciable.

There’s clearly a bit of everything going on with these poles: leccy, phone and street lamps. No missing cat posters though. That is the only thing that could top it. Lovely rural lane that just invites perambulation. The name Forest of Dean, though… is that possessive? As in Dean’s Forest, the Pullover of Martin kind of thing? We should be told, made to do some research. Or something.

A rural scene in the Forest of Dean - dual use poles (power and phone) and a phone box alongside a quiet lane.
A rural scene in the Forest of Dean - dual use poles (power and phone) and a phone box alongside a quiet lane.
A phone box and dual use pole in Forest of Dean.
3 phase power pole in the Forest of Dean. With added street lamp.

4 Oct 2022

Pole of the Month – September 2022

posted in: Big Poles, Gorgeousness, Markings, Pole of the Month |

Hey, I know we’re four days into October already – but our adjudicating team can’t be rushed on decisions as important as P.O.T.M. So here, I give you, courtesy of veteran pole-climber and Honorary member of this sage society #0469H John Brunsden, Pole of the Month for September.

This lovely 1940s double header DP397 can be found at Stapleton near Bristol. Closer examination reveals and ageing and faded D plate and also the remains of an A1024. Plus any number of previous annotations as per its DP designation.

DP 397, a tall, double headed pole from the 1940s
Lots of old markers and tags on DP 397.
The etchings on DP397 pole. GPO, 40ft Medium, looks like 1944 date.
DP 397 stands proud against a blue sky and a brick and stone wall.
Street view of DP397 showing a church, road junctions and housing beyond.
19 Sep 2022

Telegraph Pole Appreciation Day 2022

posted in: Appreciating, Appreciation Day, Country poles, Telegraph Poles |

Blimey these don’t half come around quick. As I write, just two more sleeps until that wonderful day of appreciating those delightful tall wooden, sticky-uppy things that punctuate our landscape, disappear off into perspective infinity o’er hill and dale and which stand silent and sentinel over us all.

To help you celebrate this great day (coincidentally, miniature golf appreciation day also) we’ve decided to upload a gallery of some of our favourite poles of the last few years. Scroll, enjoy, appreciate.

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