ONE September morning last year, steel making in Redcar became a thing of the past. Mass unemployment. Financial hardship for thousands. A sense of grief that an industry spanning 170 years was gone.

But for some, the future turned out not to be so bleak.

Dan Wilcox has fond memories of his time in Redcar. He turned up in his truck with a delivery, and ended up spending four and half years at SSI.

“They were a fantastic bunch of guys to work with and get to know. It was a great time.”

His immediate feelings were no different to any of the thousands who discovered the plant was closing.

“I felt desolate and lost. It was the first time in four and a half years I’d spent every night of the week in my own bed.

“Having to go back to distance work and going abroad was quite a daunting prospect.

“It was a sad day when you get the letter through the post and you sit down and have a couple of black days, but you’ve got to pick yourself up and find something.

Where his story is unique is what happened next. Dan went on to launch Cleveland LGV Training with his son-in-law Matthew Switzer, to train people in using light and heavy goods vehicles.

It employs 19 staff, 14 of whom are former SSI workers and have come through the company’s training programme.

Dan and Matthew have since launched Cleveland LGV Transport, operating 11 wagons and delivering goods across the UK.

“The closure was the catalyst. Without it, I would have retried in there. We all thought that but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

“We are making a living but we are also giving something back.”

The SSI Task Force was launched last September and has gone on to support more than 800 new jobs, create 172 business start-ups and ensure all 50 former SSI apprentices found training or employment.

Cleveland LGV began with £10,000 from the SSI Task Force Business Advice Start Up Fund and has made almost £2 million in turnover since it began trading in January “It’s been a struggle but when you can see people’s faces that you’ve worked with for five years coming through our training school getting back into employment and driving a truck, it is a fantastic feeling.

“They’ve got money coming in, their wives are happy and they can feed their children. They’re going home happy on a weekend, it is a blessing.”

“It’s the phoenix from the ashes” he added.

Dan’s success has led him to take a more positive view about the events of last autumn.

“Such is life, things happen, you can’t predict them.

“SSI wasn’t the first and they won’t be the last. It will happen to someone else.

“I take quite a laid back view. Unfortunately it’s happened and it is devastating for the region.

“It is how you deal with it, especially mentally. There were lads who have found it very difficult, three of four thought their world had ended. If I had gone into a deep dark place and stewed on it, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

“It was a fantastic place with a great atmosphere, but unfortunately it’s gone.”

For the many who have not been as fortunate as Dan, his advice is simple.

“Keep trying, don’t sit back and dwell on it. Don’t give up. Something will turn up.

“Take advice because it is there. There are wonderful people willing to help, us included.

Brian Scaife, a former supervisor at SSI, has a similar message He is now working at Francis Brown in Middlesbrough, one of four former SSI workers employed there. He recalls the moment steel production recommenced at the Redcar plant in 2012 “We never thought we’d get it up and running and actually starting again, there was a lot of pride and relief.

Fast forward three years and the emotions could not have been more different.

“We knew very little about it, it was a last minute thing.

“We turned up to the office, we’d heard the rumours and someone came up to us and said you’ll have to get your stuff together and go.

“There were shift lads coming in, putting their overalls on and then getting escorted off the site by security to make sure they didn’t take anything they weren’t supposed to.

“That’s how quick it was, you didn’t really have time to think this is terrible.”

There are many others who have found success post SSI. Lee Bullock of Marske has launched drone-based photographic business The Aerial Aspect, whilst Andy Baker has set up his own sport coaching business, Velocity Sports Coaching.

Brian knows he is one of the fortunate ones, and there are many who have yet to find work.

“There was maybe 2,000 blokes at SSI but the knock on effect will maybe affect 7,000 people.

“The government didn’t do anything to help. If they’d thought about it, it was just a case of riding the storm.

“It will never open again because of the way it was shut down. It has to be done in a controlled manner otherwise everything is wrecked.

“Basically they just pulled the plug, so that’s it.”

The end may have come at SSI, but for some, it was the start of a fantastic new beginning.

Read tomorrow’s Northern Echo to see the reality in Redcar, one year on from the closure of SSI.