openreach – The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society

28 Jul 2021

Pharoahs Island – TW17 9LN

posted in: fabled poles, Maintenance, Oddities, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

Laurence Langley wrote to tell us of his new role – that of responding to Openreach’s hazardous equipment within 2 hours! And herewith one of his more interesting poles.

“This pole feeds the entire island and due to the river crossing & boats the pole is 15m to avoid collision. TW17 9LN – DP107 CP1 – 15m Medium. The only access to the island is by barge and will require a crane to transport the pole across, if the Water Authority do not require the current wire height then we would be looking at a 10m hollow pole, this would save us transporting and will be easier to install the pole.”

Apologies for the low-resolution of the images. WIGIWYG (What I get is what you get)

NB. The value of an outside loo from one of those properties would probably be five times what my house is worth. And I live in a castle. In Wales.

An aerial photo of Pharoahs Island - a small, populated tear drop shaped island in the middle of the river Thames.

A view of Pharoahs Island - houses on the bank - from across the opposite bank of the river thames. Yes, there's a telegraph pole.

10 Mar 2021

An Exhibition of Pole Photos by Member #0985H

posted in: Big Poles, Broken Poles, dropwires, Found Poles, Oddities, Slideshow, Submissions, Telegraph Poles |

Welcome to the TPAS virtual gallery. Wayne Firth is an honorary member of this society. He didn’t become such via the usual vulgarity of a cash donation delivered personally to my doorstep. Nor did he offer me a non-executive seat at some dubious investment company. And he didn’t marry my sister either.*¹ Whilst these are all perfectly valid means of suffixing your membership with the esteemed “H”, Wayne went one better and used his position within the echelons of Openreach to access photos of poles of great interest. These he then sent to us under plain cover.

I’ve been hanging on to these for a while with the intention of spreading them out over a year. Truth is, my email inbox stretches off for over a mile now and so if I left it any longer then they may be lost to the silt at the bottom. (Apologies to those still waiting a reply from me for anything at all – don’t lose hope).

Anyway, thanks to Wayne #0985H for all these fabulous pole pics. Click a pic for full sized gallery.

*¹ All are also valid, and oft used, means of acquiring peerage and/or PPE contracts.

_{PS the descriptive captions whilst seemingly blooming obvious… to the sighted, are from the alt text which we include with each image so as not to exclude so to speak…}

The view from the top of a BT pole. A suburban street. Plus some bird poo very much in evidence.

A telegraph pole burning from top to bottom in a suburban street.