Choking on the fumes - memories from the factory floor
Post categories: Buckley,ÌýChirk,ÌýConnah's Quay,ÌýFlint,ÌýHistory & Memories,ÌýHolywell,ÌýShotton,ÌýWrexham
| 14:30 UK time, Thursday, 4 September 2008
There have been more fascinating memories submitted overnight giving a revealing insight into people's working lives like the time Neal remembers when his mining community used to up sticks and move en masse to Rhyl every year.
[I can remember the same thing happening in North Staffordshire in the '80s when the potbanks shut for two weeks and annually someone would trot out the old poster, 'will the last person to leave Stoke please switch the lights off']
Among the other contributions there's the recollection by Mo about Courtaulds' Greenfield site and the sulphur works : "At night time the sulphur works across the railway line used to glow and the fumes used to blow in..."
Barrie has similar memories about conditions at Monsanto, Cefn Mawr: " I went to work at Monsanto's as a trainee draughtsman, but couldn't stand it there with the then chemicals choking you and burning every unprotected part."
But one thing comes through a lot of these contributions, and that's the strength of community. About Shotton Steelworks David writes: "Very fond memories of the works and definitely the best place I have worked. The whole area had a community spirit that has been lost to the modern world."
Local historian Vic Tyler-Jones wants to preserve such memories for posterity. He's writing a book about Llay Colliery and wants to gather stories from the men who worked there before it's too late.
