Monday, 12 October 2015

#SaveOurSteel: skignz supports local community

Over the last month or so the local community of Teesside, where skignz was founded and currently has its UK & European HQ, was hit with a heavy blow. 

SSi today announced it was closing its operations on Teesside due to the change in steel prices across the world and they do not see a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.


Much has been debated in the local, national and international press about if the plant could be saved, who might be interested in it and is their still a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.

For those of you who don't know much about Teesside, or familiar with its heritage. 

It's an area surrounding the NE of England town called Middlesbrough. Once termed the 'Infant Hercules' at the turn of the 19th Century, where a little town grew exponentially on the back of the Iron & Steel industry.

A Heritage that ALL Teessiders the world over are fiercely proud of, and they have a right to be. Steel from Teesside helped build some of the world's most Iconic Structures, including more recently they Wembley Stadium Arch, in London, UK, but going way back to the previous century when not only Teesside Steel built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but also the expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship of the Teesside people. 

It's been said:
"Some of the world's leading engineers come from Teesside".

The skignz team wanted to show their support for their local community, many of which who have family or friends directly affected, by placing #SaveOurSteel campaign skignz's across Teesside and beyond! 

Below here is a selection of images that we have taken and others sent to us.

With some 7,000 jobs at risk, including employees of SSi UK and the immediate supply chain, this story unfortunately does not have a happy ending as it was decided today that SSi UK would be put into liquidation and the Blast furnaces and Coke Ovens will be allowed to cool down, resulting in the END of Steelmaking on Teesside.

Generations of Teessiders have supplied the world with steel and now it's finally supplied its last. 

Not only those who have lost their jobs, careers and especially their livelihoods, but the wider community that will feel the knock on effect. The last few years have not been kind to the people of the North East of England, especially those on Teesside. 

The steelworkers are not the only ones to lose their jobs, many other companies across the North of England are downsizing, laying off people in order to compete in a global market.

However one thing that won't be extinguished like those flames of the Blast Furnaces and Coke Ovens, is that of the spirit of the Teesside people.

#TeessideSteelLivesOn








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