The collapse of a North-East steel making company could bring to an end a glorious history which has seen the region playing a part in some of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken. John Hobbs reports

OVER 140 years, the steelmen of Weardale have carved their names with pride on great engineering feats around the globe.

From the huge liner Mauretania to the Suez and Panama canals, generations of workers at the now threatened steel plant at Wolsingham, in County Durham, have made their mark on history.

Even the once-famous Blackpool Big Wheel was manufactured from Weardale steel; as were Gateshead's Angel of the North and the River Tyne's Millennium footbridge.

Now, with the realisation that the steelworks may have to close - the victim of a disastrous takeover deal - the full impact it has made on the world of engineering has been revealed through a series of calendars charting its history.

Pauline Fenwick, for 25 years secretary to a succession of managing directors at Weardale Steel and more recently company buyer, kept the calendars secure in a desk in an upstairs room at the works.

She was among 53 staff made redundant when the company was put in the hands of administrators two weeks ago and is helping to broker a management-led employee takeover bid.

"Very few people outside the works know about the calendars," said Mrs Fenwick. "They provide a unique record of just what Weardale steelworkers have been able to achieve over the years."

Mrs Fenwick is deeply distressed about what has been allowed to happen to the company, which she regarded as "just one great family". But she agreed to return to the works to show the calendars to The Northern Echo.

The calendars were produced annually for Captain John Rogerson, the chairman of Weardale Steel.

Capt Rogerson also ran several other mining companies, including Trimdon Coal, Broomhill Collieries, Seaton Burn Coal and Wingate Coal.

One features the 31,938-tonne Cunard liner Mauretania, which was launched on the Tyne in 1906, after being built at the Swan Hunter and Whigham Richardson's yards, at Wallsend. Its anchor was cast at Wolsingham steelworks.

Among a multitude of contracts carried out for navies around the world, one of the calendars records that the company built rudders and steering gear for British and Brazilian warships - and even for the Japanese navy.

A later calendar - produced years before the Falklands War - makes mention of contracts with the Argentian navy.

Another calendar records how Wolsingham steel was used to manufacture buckets used on dredgers in both the Suez and Panama canals.

But perhaps one of the strangest contracts won by the company was to provide steel for Blackpool's Big Wheel. This 220ft landmark, in the centre of the holiday resort, was built in 1896 and had 30 carriages, each carrying 30 passengers.

It was never a success, however, and was last used on October 20, 1928.

But the Big Wheel provided part of the inspiration for a poem written by the late Violet Mason, wife of a former steelworker, to celebrate the works' 100th anniversary.

Mrs Mason, whose husband, Herbert, drove the last steam crane at Wolsingham, wrote:

One hundred years have passed and gone,

For a century they have stood the test,

Turning out castings and forging among the best,

Many fine ships they have helped to build,

With parts manufactured by men who were skilled.

They not only worked for the ships with their steel,

But also made here the Blackpool Big Wheel.

Oft they'll recall their very first pay,

When they started work here at eight pence a day;

To all the directors we give a big hand

For the work they provide in this bit of England

And so on this centenary day

To these works a tribute we pay.