An historic foundry in the Black Country which axed 35 jobs and put staff on a three-day week is bringing overtime back and looking to recruit new staff.

Bosses at Chamberlin & Hill in Walsall, which manufactures castings for vehicle parts, today said they hoped to replace a small number of the lost jobs.

The factory, based in Chuckery Road, Chuckery, has attracted new orders from a number of Europe-based car manufacturers looking for the technical expertise in development of new generation engines.

Chamberlin & Hill community liaison officer David Morgan said: “We are back to full-time working at five days now and we are looking at potential overtime because we have been successful at winning some prototype work with the new type of engines.

“Things are looking up and we’ve certainly turned the corner.”

The company has also taken on a new administrator apprentice earlier this month and is the process of recruiting two engineering apprentices.