100 years ago

Messrs Cochrane and Co had, the previous day, put out of blast their No 2 furnace at the Ormesby Ironworks, Middlesbrough, for re-lining.

The furnace had been blown in on May 8, 1876, and had been in blast for more than 38 years. This constituted a record of life for a blast furnace lining throughout the world. Her total make of pig iron for the 38 years had been 365,387 tons. Only Cleveland pig iron had been produced.

The furnace was “damped down” during the Cleveland miners’ strike, the Durham coal strike, the North Eastern Railway strike, and the national coal strike. Her shell was capable of taking a 45,000 cubic feet furnace.

 

50 years ago

Boys attending Chippenham Secondary Modern School who favoured the Rolling Stones hairstyle had been sent home to get it cut shorter. In consequence one boy had been away for two days.

The headmaster, Mr EW Minter, said: “At a general assembly I announced that unduly long hair was untidy and likely to be unhygienic especially when it dropped down over their necks, and asked that those concerned should get their hair cut. Most of them did so, but there were six or seven I thought necessary to send home with a request to their parents to get their hair cut. With one or two exceptions this was done, but there may be a couple who are still away. I have not received a single protest from any parent.”

 

25 years ago

A special automated plant had been installed by the York Handmade Brick Company at its premises in Forest Lane, Alne. But company bosses stressed that the end-product was still very definitely handmade.

“Instead of everybody having to dig their own clay out of a pile which has been left for them, the clot is produced in their hands and emptied out automatically. But the bricks are then thrown by hand. They are still very much a handmade product, that is something you can’t reproduce by machine.”

The handmade bricks were used for building work in environmentally sensitive locations in York and a host of other historic market towns throughout Yorkshire. It was explained that they were generally used for small-scale developments where a traditional look was required. The company currently employed a total of 35 people. Mr Armitage added that the new plant had been completed from scratch in just ten weeks. “That’s a credit to the men concerned. We have had tremendous cooperation from the workforce,” he said.