To celebrate the 75th birthday of Southern Electric we invited more than 70 guests to a special celebratory heritage event at our Forbury office in Reading.
The guest list included many retired Distribution colleagues, who were excited to re-connect with old friends, share their stories and mark this important milestone.
Literature from the SSE Archives, including photographs, news stories and the Southern Electricity Board journals, were displayed around the venue for guests to enjoy, alongside some light refreshments.
The event was opened by Eliane Algaard, SEPD Operations Director, who welcomed attendees before introducing Gillian O’Reilly, SSE’s Head of Heritage.
Gillian spoke passionately about our history and the journey we have been on since the formation of the Southern Electricity Board in 1948, to becoming SSEN Distribution for Central Southern England.
She also outlined our key highlights and achievements from each decade, as both the company and the communities in which operate have transformed, adding: “We remain proud of our past, prepared for the future and committed to powering our community.”.
Chris Burchell, Managing Director, then shared his thoughts on the shape of Distribution today, emphasising the importance of “the amazing people” who work for Distribution and “achieve incredible things on a daily basis”.
Speaking about the rapid pace of change and evolution, Chris said: “The role we play in society has always been critical and now, even more so. The drive to decarbonise heat and transport is greater than ever – and is happening all around us, and of course the infrastructure we’ve built, and continue to build, is the backbone of this for customers and communities.
He also shared his thoughts on the role technology will play as our network evolves into a fully flexible system, speaking about the need for digitised assets, smarter data, improved automation, and self-service to speed up quality and efficiency for customers.
Chris added: “Our purpose ‘To power communities to thrive today and create a net zero tomorrow’ gives us our north star… Already we are seeing change in how we design, build and maintain our network. And again, like our past, we do this with our customers, communities, and our people at the heart of it.”
There were also speeches from the “next generation of colleagues” Emily Smith, Graduate Project Manager, and Kevin Devaney, Trainee Engineer, who shared their excitement at joining the business and their thoughts on the application of new roles, technology, and data to the modernisation of the network.
To keep connected with all things SSE Heritage you can find us on social media channels Facebook, X and Instagram as @sseheritage.