NEWPORT'S last lamplighter is still a bright spark at 80 years of age - and thanking his old job for keeping him so fit.

"You had to nip about in all weathers a bit sharpish. It was a great job for keeping you on your toes," said Frederick Gough, who was born in the Shaftesbury area of Newport but now lives in William Street, Trethomas.

"My Dad worked for the gas board and I got the job in the forties during the war. They gave me a uniform and a cap which made some people think I was a policeman.

"The drill was to go around on a bike with a long pole which hooked onto an electric switch that lit the gas lamp. I also had to set electric clocks.

"There were four of us and my round was Pill and the Cardiff Road area around Gilligan's Island which I could do in about two hours.

"In the summer I would have to be up at five o'clock to turn the lamps off and out late in the evening to turn them on again.

"On dark winter nights the lights had to be on earlier and turned off later. The weather was often filthy and I had to do my job even in the worst snow, but at least I got longer in bed.

"I had a bike, which I had to supply, and a pole. It was pretty energetic work but I liked being out in the open and speaking to people who would ask me for directions.

"During the daylight hours I would have to go around with a basket of gas mantles replacing the ones that had burnt out.

"To tell the truth it was enjoyable, and not particularly hard work."

One of three children, Mr Gough's illuminating career lasted for 24 years until the early 1960s when Newport switched over to all-electric lighting. He and his wife Elizabeth, who came from Machen, moved to Trethomas where he worked for the mineworkers' union before finally retiring.

In 2004 consumers have got used to the idea that they might have to pay an electricity company for gas and vice versa.

"But it was the same in my day," Mr Gough said. "My last employer was the South Wales Electricity Board."