This is where I learned my trade. It was my first job after I left
school and "set" my ideas about what a working environment would be
for the rest of my life - and if that view is to change it hasn't
happened yet. I benefited from a lot of wisdom from the experienced
steelmakers who ran this works. It had to hold its own in a
marketplace crowded with subsidised "nationalised" producers. The way
this was done was to concentrate on what the company was good at,
which was carbon and low-alloy steel billets and bars for
predominantly the automotive industry. The "competitive edge" which
defended the prices was consistently delivering quickly - then in the
After working at Hadfields I worked in a nationalised company, the then
British Steel Corporation, at Stocksbridge Works, which was very proud
of its high-quality end of the market reputation. It had been heavily
invested-in and I worked on some very advanced plant - arc-heated
secondary steelmaking vessels, the continuous caster, etc - but
I valued the lessons of my private-industry days in knowing things
which were not right.
the Melting Shop with charge well on the way to being
melted-down