Tempered not Quenched: In June an exhibition exploring the campaign to save Bilston Steelworks was launched at Bilston Craft Gallery by the In the Shadow of Elisabeth project. Here Bilston Magazine speaks to project coordinator and Bilston historian Greig Campbell about ‘Tempered not Quenched: The Battle for Bilston Steelworks’. Courtesy of the E&S
the tragic events surrounding the closure of Bilston works in 1979. The more I read about what I have dubbed the ‘battle for Bilston works’, the more I was inspired by the campaign organised by the unionised steelmen in defence of their beloved plant. It was clear that the eventual demise of the plant overshadowed what was a unique and often overlooked chapter in British industrial relations history. Naturally, I spoke to the late Dennis Turner, respected labour historians at the University of Wolverhampton and employees at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, before deciding to apply for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to deliver a community project collecting interview material from the surviving steelworkers. Lord Turner’s untimely death motivated me to really push for the funding and subsequently the grant application was successful and the rest is history. What did the ITSOE entail?
Can you tell us a little about yourself? I’m a Bilston-native who graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a degree in history in 2004 before moving to Liverpool to undertake a Masters degree. This eventually led me to the Americas where I developed an interest in the oral history of industrial workers. After delivering a project exploring the lives of former coalminers in Pennsylvania I decided to return to the Black Country. What inspired you to undertake the In the Shadow of Elisabeth project? Whilst visiting family in China in 2013 I stumbled upon a complex of blast furnaces located on the eastern coast of the country. The sight of these huge structures led me to reminisce over the stories I had heard about Big Lizzie when I was young child visiting my sister at the Springvale Social Club, where she worked as a bartender for Dennis Turner. Upon my return to Bilston I undertook preliminary research into
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After being awarded a generous £42,000 grant from the HLF, the ‘In the Shadow of Elisabeth’ project was launched at a public event in Bilston Community Centre in January 2015. From there I recruited a team of highly motivated and talented volunteers from the local community, who were provided with transferable skills training in archive research and oral history interviewing from Wolverhampton City Archives and the Oral History Society respectively. Over the proceeding 12 months the team undertook their own research on the battle for Bilston – before collecting over 30 oral history interviews with steelworkers who witnessed the events of the late 1970s. Courtesy of Daren Kinsey
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