STEEL TALK WELL RECEIVED

From Phil Allen, Brigg Amateur Social Historians

The subject of the February BASH meeting at Brigg & District Servicemen’s Club was The History of Iron & Steel Making in Scunthorpe, with speaker Steve Cook.
Steve initially took us into the pre-historic past of the area explaining
the origin of the vast ironstone deposits. These were then discovered in the late 1850s in the region of the five small villages of Scunthorpe, Frodingham, Crosby, Brumby and Ashby, resulting in the development of an iron and steel industry and rapid population growth.
He showed many images of the very labour-intensive early days of the industry and some very rare movie clips. The works included Frodingham Ironworks; North Lincoln Ironworks; Redbourn Hill Iron & Coal Company; Appleby Ironworks; John Lysaght's Iron and Steelworks.
Finally, in the early 1980s, it was realised that the local ore (20% iron) could not compete with imported ore (at 60-70% iron) and it was decided to close all the local mines and quarries.
Steve gave a fascinating talk that was extremely well attended and enjoyed
by everybody.
The next BASH meeting will be on Tuesday, 2nd March at the Servicemen's Club - A Nostalgic Journey Around Brigg (See how Brigg looked 100 years ago). This is an illustrated talk by BASH Chairman Josie Webb and Secretary Pat Parkinson.

Pictured at the February meeting are the speaker with some retired steelworkers. Left to right: John Tindall, Doug Parker, Les Wells (seated), Steve Cook (speaker), Len Hippisley, Steve Stubbins.