Memories of steelworkers

[Kidorry 189]

I have a disc of the book,"Hell but I`d go back tomorrow" if I can make a copy of it you can have it.It has all the good,bad & the ugly of the Sheffield and district steel industry spoken by the men who worked in it.

[Kidorry 189]

I could put it on a flash drive for you if you want.There are men ,women,asians & west indians speaking about the time they had in the steelworks.

[slimsid2000 10]

Hi

I wonder if anyone can help me, im a fine art student and i am creating the words of steel workers in forged steel for my final degree exhibition. I would dearly love some memories from sheffield steelworkers to be included. In your own words , even in your own handwriting..which i will reproduce in steel. Particularly of the work itself and how it made you feel in the steel foundry environment. To anyone that can help i would happily provide photographs framed of the finished piece, if your words are included. many thanks Lucianne

 

I'm sure i saw a documentry one time about a group of redundant Sheffield steel workers who turned to stripping to make ends meet. Aparently it was all Maggie Thatcher's fault anyway and in the end they quite enjoyed the stripping.

[heathl4 10]

Oh Kidorry that would be fantastic!:)Ihave tried looking for the book but unsucessfully. However im not in sheffield, ...post? I would be happy to pay for the copy and postage.

[Bloomdido 10]

I worked for Firth Browns and saw the whole process from start to ingot. Atlas and Norfolk were like something from Dante's Inferno. When the top came off the furnace and the three red glowing electrodes came up so that more steel could be dropped into the furnace from the oveerhead crane and the flames shot up to the roof.

 

They employed 4,000 people when I was there, had their own railway and stretched for half a mile between Carlisle Street and Saville Street.

[heathl4 10]

Thankyou slimsid..i think i have seen the documentary you refer too, however whilst its aesthetics are quite interesting, highlighting the bare personnal stories of redundant steelman i feel it rather lacks in the areas i am interested in and fails to deliver what i require. But thanks anyway.

[heathl4 10]

I worked for Firth Browns and saw the whole process from start to ingot. Atlas and Norfolk were like something from Dante's Inferno. When the top came off the furnace and the three red glowing electrodes came up so that more steel could be dropped into the furnace from the oveerhead crane and the flames shot up to the roof.

 

They employed 4,000 people when I was there, had their own railway and stretched for half a mile between Carlisle Street and Saville Street.

 

Bloomdido, please expand further, how high was the roof? What age where you when you began working there? How did you begin working in this industry? Can you remember how you felt when you first started? Love the dantes inferno bit..would like to use some of your words if i may? How did ou feel after a days work? I feel that all those involved in this industry have a great pride in what they did and i hope my work will try to capture this. Thankyou so much for your reply and i will be posting pics as my work progresses.

[heathl4 10]

I was at Stocksbridge college once and the whole place shook when, well, we heard a live shell went in and blew the bezel off by all accounts. Maybe you can tell me more, and a few days later a few rounds of ammo went in, a mate of mine who was working in the offices said people were diving all over the place. I used to go under No2 down in the cellars to get the meter readings, it was a soundproof and protected room with double doors and an oxygen and water supply in case of a breakout or other incident. It linked via a tunnel which came out half way up the banking behind No2, I remember zillions of steps to climb and the higher you got the hotter it got.

 

Thankyou so much for replying and taking the time to expand on your memories, how did you begin to work in the foundry? What age where you? The tunnel sounds terrifying, can you expand further on this for me? I would love to use that in my work if i may? I hope that the words i make in steel will give some incite to those who will never experience this scale and type of work.

Edited February 20, 2010 by heathl4

[Bloomdido 10]

Bloomdido, please expand further, how high was the roof? What age where you when you began working there? How did you begin working in this industry? Can you remember how you felt when you first started? Love the dantes inferno bit..would like to use some of your words if i may? How did ou feel after a days work? I feel that all those involved in this industry have a great pride in what they did and i hope my work will try to capture this. Thankyou so much for your reply and i will be posting pics as my work progresses.

 

I will drop you a line. Do I have your email address?

[sheffsueme 10]

I worked for Firth Browns and saw the whole process from start to ingot. Atlas and Norfolk were like something from Dante's Inferno. When the top came off the furnace and the three red glowing electrodes came up so that more steel could be dropped into the furnace from the oveerhead crane and the flames shot up to the roof.

 

They employed 4,000 people when I was there, had their own railway and stretched for half a mile between Carlisle Street and Saville Street.

 

 

 

My Grandad worked there up until 1959/1960. After his shift he walked

home all the way up to the top of Clun Road, which in those days was

VERY steep and ran from Ellesmere Road to Catherine Road.

 

I always remember the steel workers with their white scarves tied around their necks, they went to work every day wearing a clean white scarf.

What a hard life they had. We have no idea.

[heathl4 10]

Just to keep everyone updated, i am forging the words now and ..bloomin heck its hard work! Thankyou to everyone thats contributed, theres still time for more, i have 4 more weeks to complete my work before the degree show.So please continue to add your memories of the steel industry. Again thankyou all so much. Pics soon i promise.

[zepstox 10]

Thankyou so much for replying and taking the time to expand on your memories, how did you begin to work in the foundry? What age where you? The tunnel sounds terrifying, can you expand further on this for me? I would love to use that in my work if i may? I hope that the words i make in steel will give some incite to those who will never experience this scale and type of work.

I can't really expand on the tunnel, it was just a tunnel. I was 19 at the time. It never seemed dangerous, just exciting and to get £100 a month as well....wow! I once had a job on the soaking pits and someone told me a bloke just jumped in one day. The heat was about 1400°c if it was for reheating. I saw a pigeon vapourise, one minute it was a bird, the next second it was nothing, e never even saw a burning feather. Then a mate of mine was burned at River Don works when a blowout came through the drot cab chains. I nearly lost my foot at Tinsley Park after a pretty warm bar rolled out of the pocket and over my steel toecap, but a Pakistani who I was working with called Khan, levered it off my foot. That slowed me down quite a bit. Edited April 14, 2010 by zepstox