Content can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes, such as for personal use or in educational resources.
For commercial purposes please contact the copyright holder directly.
Read more about the The Creative Archive Licence.
This content isn't available for download, please contact us.
Description
From the time in 1896 when the innovative Summers brothers came to the banks of the river Dee in North Wales, steelmaking at Shotton has been part of a tradition that reached back through the generations. The work at John Summers & Sons was demanding. In the main, it was hot, grimy, noisy -and very exhausting. The men who pushed the coke, handed the furnaces, rolled the slabs and coiled the sheets were hard-working and tough -and justly proud of efforts that made for a top-quality product, frequently in record-breaking tonnages.
In its 1960-80s, heyday, the Shotton steelworks was a massive, fully-integrated operation. In addition to production workers at the "heavy-end", the process was supported by an army of skilled draftsmen, engineers, chemists, business managers, typists, clerks and data-processors. Shift after shift, they all needed to be refreshed and sustained, on-site.
This interview, recorded in 2017, gives insight on a function, sometimes overlooked in the annals of Flintshire's manufacturing heritage. It introduces a long-serving, steelworks employee, Kath Tellett. In conversation with volunteer community archivist, John Butler, Kath recounts her time and experiences after she joined the work's community as an eager twenty-one year old, to embark on a career as an industrial-caterer.
Do you have information to add to this item? Please leave a comment
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to leave a comment