It has been 10 years since the cooling towers - a fixture of the east Kent landscape for five decades - at Sandwich were demolished.

The destruction of Richborough Power Station took mere seconds after explosives were strapped to the sides and base of the three towers and chimney, with the charges being set off just after 9am on March 11, 2012.

Thousands of people gathered to watch - set back from a 400m exclusion zone - as the towers crashed to the ground, with a cloud of dust and debris filling the air.

A clear blue sky meant the £1 million operation could be seen for miles around - as well as heard and felt.

Chris Parr, spokesman for BFL, the owner of the disused power station site, said at the time: "It went absolutely as planned - to the second.

"It was an impressive piece of choreography.

"This has almost been four years in the planning."

The towers toppled onto each other, after blasts, timed six seconds apart, brought them down in succession.

Former Mercury reporter Beth Robson and photographer Martin Apps practically had front row seats, and were both amazed how quickly they hit the floor.

"Even I was shocked how fast they came down," added Mr Parr.

Ramsgate-based Downfast Demolition co-ordinated the procedure, with Britain’s only female explosion engineer, Holly Bennett, masterminding it all.

Tony Flashman was the only photographer on board a helicopter which flew over the site as the towers fell.

His sequence shots were shared with the Mercury at the time, which reported on the historic moment in a 12-page souvenir pullout.

Speaking at the time, Mr Flashman said: "The photos are possibly the best I have ever taken, or some of the best.

"It was a privilege to see the end of the icons with a completely different perspective from the view on the ground.

“Being offered the opportunity to fly with Heli-Charter was too good to miss.

"It gave me a unique perspective on the end of an era, not to mention being able to fly over all the traffic jams.

“It was weird looking down and not seeing the towers and chimney.

"East Kent is not going to be the same now, as wherever you were they used to stick up like a sore thumb!”

Work on Richborough Power Station began in 1958, and it opened in 1962, chugging out smoke as they burned coal dug from Kent’s four pits.

Mr Parr, who was involved with the consultation and planning for demolition, accepted at the time that many were sentimental about the towers and the industrial heritage they represented.

He said in 2012: “We were never unsympathetic that people were attached to them. Some will be pleased to have their skyline back."

Adaptations were made at the power station over the years, but it eventually stopped operating in 1996.

Over the next four years, several of the buildings at the site were removed and taken down.

In 2003, the grounds were used as the setting for Channel 4 show Full Metal Challenge, and in 2007, the site was used as a backdrop in the film Son of Rambow.

Planning permission to destroy the towers was granted to January 2012, just two months before the demolition took place.

Even though the towers are long gone, that wasn't the last time energy would be produced on the site.

In January 2019, the company Nemo Link officially opened a 140km energy cable stretching from the former power station site all the way to Belgium.

The link is made of a mix of subsea and underground cables, which allow electricity to flow in both directions between the two countries.

In the first year of operation, the lengthy cable saved a daily average of 693 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

Do you remember the towers coming down? Comment below or email mercurynews@thekmgroup.co.uk