A relatively new town, Middlesbrough's growth only started after the discovery of ironstone in the surrounding hills in 1850. Consequently, most local people have their roots elsewhere. My dad's grandparents came from south Wales and my mother's family moved north from the midlands, whilst the Husband's grandfather had been a tin miner in Cornwall. All of them were drawn here because of the guarantee of work and a future in iron and then steel production, and Middlesbrough was to become one of the country's fastest growing towns.
Almost every family around here has some connection to the steel industry and each has its own memories and stories to tell. When my dad left the army he was employed as a steel plate layer until he was involved in an accident at work (I was a baby at the time), which left him permanently disabled. My father in law started work at 14 as a blast furnaceman's helper, ending his working life some 50 years later as blast furnace foreman. My brother worked in the offices of what had become British Steel until he was faced with redundancy. Most of my uncles were steel workers, one of them losing his life to an industrial disease. Aged 33, my cousin's husband was killed in an explosion whilst working his shift at the steel plant. Clearly, working in the industry does not come without significant personal risk.
But all of that history came to an end on Friday when the last blast furnace was shut down and steel production on Teesside ceased.
It was a sad day.
For us all.
