FOR 40 years, John "Ticker" Barron and Vic Jacques have been able to drive past the towering Blue Circle cement chimney in Upper Weardale, smile contentedly and reflect: "We built that".

They were among a select band of young lads, taken on by the then-Mitchell Construction Company to build the 400ft chimney at the Eastgate site in 1963.

Mr Barron, then 25, had been working as a labourer on a reservoir site near Consett. Mr Jacques, then aged 20, was serving his time as a joiner with a local lead company.

Mr Barron said: "There were just seven of us from the dale, but we were joined by others from Sunderland, Blyth and even as far away as Stoke-on-Trent. You could say we were all a bit foolhardy, but we were a great bunch of lads."

Mr Jacques said: "I was earning just over £7 a week at the lead mill, but this shot up to £29 working on the chimney. It was a big lift in money. My grannie thought I had robbed the bank."

Building the chimney took just under two years and was an arduous and, at times, frigtening task.

It was constructed from brick on the inside, with a gap to the outer casing made from concrete. Progress was slow and methodical. Mr Barron said: "We built about 4ft of chimney a day, travelling inside on an electric lift which had been installed by the company.

"It was just like jumping into a lift in a superstore. It did not take long to get used to it."

Working on the outside of the chimney proved much more hazardous, however.

Shifts of seven men were employed around the clock cementing the outer casing of the chimney.

They had to instal hand and foot rails, made from iron, every 40ft.

In the strong winds that sweep down the dale, this could prove quite scary.

Mr Barron said: "I can recall that, at times, you had your heart in your mouth.

"There was one particular day when we were working in a cradle attached to one of the handrails. We were suddenly hit by a very strong blast of wind.

"The cradle was swept around the other side of the chimney, with us hanging for a dear life."

Mr Jacques, 61, who works at a local quarry said: "It was magnificent up there. It was a view of the dale we will never forget."

Mr Barron, 68, said: "It was a great achievement finally getting to the top. It is certainly the closest to heaven I will ever get."