An interesting bit of historical corrective from a local transport historian, spotted on the letters page of The Sentinel newspaper today. Here’s part of his letter…

I HAD to smile at the letter from Paul Stanier of Trentham (Sentinel, Saturday March 10), accusing the Tories of destroying the industrial base of the area. Perhaps he ought to take off his pink-tinted spectacles.

Shelton Steelworks was closed as a steel producer with the loss of hundreds of jobs in 1978 by Jim Callaghan’s Labour Government. The surviving rolling mill was closed with the loss of hundreds more jobs in 2002 during the Labour Government led by Tony Blair, above.

As for the pits, Chatterley Whitfield, the first mine in the country to produce 1,000,000 tons of coal in a year, was closed in 1976, along with Glebe Fenton in 1964, Foxfield in 1965, Parkhouse 1968, Great Fenton 1969 and Norton in 1977 – all under Labour Governments. The last surviving pit in the area, Silverdale succumbed in 1998, again under a Labour Government.

As for the pottery industry, well it was decimated under the policies of Tony Blair’s Labour Government. Royal Doulton haemorrhaged thousands of jobs between 1997 and 2004, with Baddeley Green and Beswick closing in 2002 and finally the jewel in the crown, Nile Street went in 2004.

…

Cliff Beeton, Tunstall.