FH Lloyd workers share memories

Former employees of an historic steelworks in the Black Country shared their memories during a reunion event.

Wednesbury Local History Society hosted the event for past workers of the FH Lloyd Steel Works.

It was the second year the reunion has taken place and was held at Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery on Holyhead Road on Saturday.

Established in 1879 on the Park Lane site near the borders with Darlaston and Walsall, FH Lloyd went on to grow into one of the largest employers in Wednesbury and the local area.

Specialising in large, high quality, castings, at its height FH Lloyd had the largest steel producing business in Europe. The company operated for more than 100 years before closing. The site is now occupied by the Ikea at Junction 9 of the M6.

At Saturday's event former employees looked at an exhibition about the company as they shared memories.

Dan Lloyd, great grandson of the company's founders, said: "I was an apprentice, I joined as a management trainee and worked there for 17 years."

Father-of-two Mr Lloyd, aged 65, who grew up in Wolverhampton, but now lives in Ludlow, Shropshire, said: "I used to go there when I was young, my parents used to take me there and we would go to watch the night shift."

Former worker Mary Speake who worked in the core making area, now 76 of Uplands Road, Willenhall, added: "It always smelled like burning, where I worked we were right by the ovens. My father also worked there as a machine moulder. It was a happy time."

Norman Garrigan, 79, from Rockland Gardens, Willenhall, worked at the company for 36 years as a moulder.

He said: "It was a magnificent place to work because the Lloyd family were very good."