The sulphur-rich solution from the absorbers was routed to oxidiser regenerators where air was bubbled through the solution to remove the sulphur in the form of a froth. The froth was dried in a rotary vacuum filter and heated in an autoclave to allow removal of impurities prior to being stored in tanks at about 130 °C from where it was removed by heated road tanker. The regenerated absorber solution from the oxidisers, together with recovered solution from the vacuum filters, was returned for reuse in the vetrocoke absorbers. Hydrocarbon liquids were routed to condensate stabilizers and then to storage tanks for removal by road tanker. The original agreement between Home Oil and British Gas was a 15-year contract valued at £27 million for the delivery of per day of gas at standard conditions with a maximum flow of per day. By 1974 aquifer water ingress into the gas reservoir had significantly reduced gas production to about per day. The production and gas treatment facility was permanently shut down in October 1974. Over three years it had produced at standard conditions, only 4.5% of the estimated recoverable reserves. The Lockton gas field is now known as Ebberston Moor. It is licensed to Third Energy. In 2014 Third Energy announced a joint venture with Moorland Energy Limited (MEL) to develop the Ebberston Moor South development. Gas from the existing Ebberston Moor South well will be transported via a new 14-km pipeline to the Knapton Generating Station. There are three theatre venues in the town offering a very wide range of amateur and professional productions. In July the annual Jazz Festival is held in Pickering. There is a leisure centre, a swimming pool and a modern library and information centre. Sports activities include athletics, football, cricket, badminton and bowls. Pickering is home to Pickering Town F.C., who currently play in Division One North-West of the Northern Premier League, Level 8 of the football league pyramid. Notable sports-people from the town include, footballing brothers Craig Short and Chris Short, and snooker player Paul Davison. Local newspapers are  Notable residents of Pickering have included Dorothy Cowlin who wrote many articles about the area and its people. The Beck Isle Museum is housed in a Regency period residence near the centre of town, adjacent to the Pickering Beck, a stream that flows under a four-arched road bridge. It was here that William Marshall planned England's first Agricultural Institute in the early 19th century.