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those concerned are now waiting anxiously for the winners
of the Local History awards to be announced, which is expected
to take place towards the end of this month. A Southern Education
and Library Board (SELB) spokesperson said: “The book
is the product of an exciting oral history project linking
the SELB Library Service and Craigavon and Banbridge Health
and Social Services Trust.
“Launched in the Millennium Court Centre in Portadown
in October 2002, the book tells the story of the Metal Box
factory in Portadown, one of the main manufacturing plants
in the Mid-Ulster area which closed in the early eighties.
“The firm’s workforce, unified by a strong sense
of local identity and the shared experiences of a distinctive
working environment, continued to meet on a regular basis
following the factory’s closure, developing and participating
in an annual programme of educational and social events.
“The work of researching and putting together a book
to record their working experiences in the factory was by
far the group’s most ambitious project, but they were
determined that the story of the Metal Box factory, which
was such an important human and economic resource in the Mid-Ulster
area, would be preserved. Their story, as told in The Tin
God, highlighted the once almost seamless linkage of such
factories with their local communities
“For many of the employees their working lives were
spent in a single firm, and the book provides invaluable access
to a past which, although relatively recent, has almost disappeared.
“Adrian Rice, a Belfast writer and a local photographic
artist, Phil O’Hanlon, were engaged to work with the
group, to help select material, to put it into a readable
form and to get the material into print.
“With a project of this type progress is inevitably
slow but a major breakthrough came in August 2000 when a folder
full of photographs, cuttings etc. relating to the factory
were found by chance by the niece of the founder of the Pensioners’
Club, Leonard Sankey, in a drawer at another local factory.
The material was going to be dumped but fortunately she was
aware of the work that the group was doing and passed the
material to the group.
“The Metal Box project highlights what can be achieved
when public bodies, such as the Library Service and the Health
Trust, come together to work in partnership.” |
