I know this place well as I worked there as a student on vacation in about 1972. This montage and the accompanying music and sound of the waves capture the atmosphere well. It brings to mind the zone in Tarkovsky's film "Stalker". The massiveness of the structures, pipes, chimney, settling tanks and all the rest. No trees, no grass - only the broad sea and sky and white chalky crunchy ground just like burnt magnesium. The sea on the far side gave the place an even vaster dimension. The job was really hard and challenging for a weedy youngster - but well paid. Shovelling damp "Boliden" into sacks and stacking them on pallets all day. Working on noisy machines, doing tasks which made no sense because nobody explained the processes to you. Some of my workmates were marvellous tough, wild guys, but really friendly and witty, doing the same boring never-ending work year-in, year-out, supporting families. They took me across the road to the Brus Arms on my birthday and bought me so much drink I don't know how I got home. Some, just a few, were unpredictable, moody or frankly a "bit tapped" in the head and best avoided. The work was dangerous too. The heat, the dust, the heavy machinery, god knows what sorts of pollution all around you. The foreman was called Horseley. He was always cross, swearing and shouting at people trying to get the job done. Poor man, he had a thankless job, organising the work teams, middle man between the labourers (us) and management as distant and seemingly indifferent to us as the taut sea horizon or the white smoke drifting over the town from the giant stack. Steetley's gone now, together with the pits, the steel works and all the other filthy labouring jobs - and a very good thing too. All that's left is the awesome desolation and lonely beauty of the place where the seagulls, the breeze and the sea foam break the silence.
Yeah I was there back in Dec '08 .... the video sums the atmosphere up very well. Its a weird, desolate, windswept corner of the north-east coast. I really wanted to walk along that pier to the end but the further out to sea it went, the more rotten the timber floor was ... I chickened out half way.
Thank you for your comments. I composed the music using garageband. Takes a hell of a lot longer than video editing but you get close enough to the soundtrack that fits (after several hours on the keyboard).
Wow bit of nostalgia. I remember it looking as it did in the still pics about 15 years ago or so. Live in west view, heard about the people getting scrap too. Also some rooms underground?
A great piece of video editing,the background music just adds to the sombre mood.Its been a photographic magnet for thousands and i for one will miss it when its gone altogether.Could you let us know what the music is that accopanies the video. Superb.Regards to mercury vapour too.....
This place is about 5 mins walk from my house (in Hartlepool, north east) and it gets worse every day. There is always some people there picking the bones for scrap. I walked over there a week ago and i sware they had a digger taking the pipes out of the ground on the beach leading out to sea. On a side note that pier is quite stable and theres alot of people fishing on it every day, although the pump house at the end is getting taken appart for the scrap.
I know this place well as I worked there as a student on vacation in about 1972. This montage and the accompanying music and sound of the waves capture the atmosphere well. It brings to mind the zone in Tarkovsky's film "Stalker". The massiveness of the structures, pipes, chimney, settling tanks and all the rest. No trees, no grass - only the broad sea and sky and white chalky crunchy ground just like burnt magnesium. The sea on the far side gave the place an even vaster dimension. The job was really hard and challenging for a weedy youngster - but well paid. Shovelling damp "Boliden" into sacks and stacking them on pallets all day. Working on noisy machines, doing tasks which made no sense because nobody explained the processes to you. Some of my workmates were marvellous tough, wild guys, but really friendly and witty, doing the same boring never-ending work year-in, year-out, supporting families. They took me across the road to the Brus Arms on my birthday and bought me so much drink I don't know how I got home. Some, just a few, were unpredictable, moody or frankly a "bit tapped" in the head and best avoided. The work was dangerous too. The heat, the dust, the heavy machinery, god knows what sorts of pollution all around you. The foreman was called Horseley. He was always cross, swearing and shouting at people trying to get the job done. Poor man, he had a thankless job, organising the work teams, middle man between the labourers (us) and management as distant and seemingly indifferent to us as the taut sea horizon or the white smoke drifting over the town from the giant stack. Steetley's gone now, together with the pits, the steel works and all the other filthy labouring jobs - and a very good thing too. All that's left is the awesome desolation and lonely beauty of the place where the seagulls, the breeze and the sea foam break the silence.
Thanks for your thoughts and memories, Tim. Where are you from?
(West) Hartlepool. Now living in the west country.
My dear old granda was a supervisor at Steetley ( David Hanson) and I have his retirement award ( longines watch) pride of place.
Good vid, glad you were able to make use of the pics
Yeah I was there back in Dec '08 .... the video sums the atmosphere up very well. Its a weird, desolate, windswept corner of the north-east coast.
I really wanted to walk along that pier to the end but the further out to sea it went, the more rotten the timber floor was ... I chickened out half way.
Thank you for your comments. I composed the music using garageband. Takes a hell of a lot longer than video editing but you get close enough to the soundtrack that fits (after several hours on the keyboard).
Thanks for that,i think its bloody fantastic.
Wow bit of nostalgia. I remember it looking as it did in the still pics about 15 years ago or so. Live in west view, heard about the people getting scrap too. Also some rooms underground?
A great piece of video editing,the background music just adds to the sombre mood.Its been a photographic magnet for thousands and i for one will miss it when its gone altogether.Could you let us know what the music is that accopanies the video.
Superb.Regards to mercury vapour too.....
This place is about 5 mins walk from my house (in Hartlepool, north east) and it gets worse every day. There is always some people there picking the bones for scrap. I walked over there a week ago and i sware they had a digger taking the pipes out of the ground on the beach leading out to sea.
On a side note that pier is quite stable and theres alot of people fishing on it every day, although the pump house at the end is getting taken appart for the scrap.
Something missing here?whats the point?
Just looking at rubble is not very illuminating!
what say?