Hard Times in the West Midlands Foundry Industry

From the collection of

MACE is the strategic lead organisation for screen heritage for the East and West Midlands regions. An independent charity based at University of Lincoln, MACE preserves and makes accessible a collection of more than 100,000 historic moving images representative of the diverse cultures and histories of communities throughout the heart of England from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border.

Hard Times in the West Midlands Foundry Industry

Media Archive for Central England
Smethwick
1983-02-17
Sound

With half the workforce gone in ten years, what future is there for the traditional West Midlands foundry trade?

75-year-old Eddie Marsland had come a long way in business: from prize fighting to running foundries, but can even this old pro get through the latest crisis to hit this traditional West Midlands industry? Reporter Rob Whitehouse takes Marsland to the wastelands of Smethwick to survey the ruins of the closed Midland Motor Cylinder Company works to see if there is a future for the grime and molten metal of the foundry.Cheap imports are the clear problem but, as we discover on a visit to the thriving RMI factory, there are innovators who are finding ways of competing on quality and technology rather than risking a race to the bottom.

A look at the state of the West Midlands foundry industry, where the workforce has halved over the last ten years.

The Final Hooter: A Farewell to Midlands Industry

A reminder that the Midlands was once a global industrial force that was brought to its knees by recession and government policies in the 1980s.

The 1980s saw the industrial landscape of the UK change forever. A deep economic recession, combined with a drive to develop the country’s financial sector meant the end-of-the-line for many famous firms across the country, a fair proportion of them based in the Midlands. Nationally, there were upwards of 3 million people unemployed between 1982 and 1986 – 12.5% of the population. In the Midlands the gates closed on pits, mills and foundries - big employers that had provided work for generations of families. Smaller enterprises fared no better, with working men’s clubs and bingo halls finding themselves out of step with a younger generation that wasn’t interested in their parents’ and grandparents’ idea of a night out. This collection is an often poignant look at the final days of Victorian industrial giants and small family run businesses. It includes interviews with people about to, or having just lost their jobs, their anger and sadness palpable. In spite of this, there are some bright patches against the grey – as doors close we see the Midlanders’ innate capacity for change come to the fore, looking into the future, not the past.