Stourbridge glassworkers reflect on the past
[gallery] Former workers at a world-famous glass factory in Stourbridge have shared their memories, photographs and artefacts as part of a £2.1 million project.
Former workers at a world-famous glass factory in Stourbridge have shared their memories, photographs and artefacts as part of a £2.1 million project.
Their items will be used in the new Webb Corbett Visitor Centre being built on the site of the old factory in Wollaston Road.
Click on the image to the right for more photos
The centre will tell the history of glassmaking and will form part of the new Glasshouse Arts Centre.
On Saturday, former workers from Webb Corbett and their relatives met during a special reflections day at the Ruskin Glass Centre.
Former chief glassmaker Malcolm Andrews, aged 69, from Braemar Avenue, Wordsley, said: "It was a brilliant company to work for, very paternal, they looked after their employees, I loved working there."
Some of Mr Andrews' glasswork was sent to Buckingham Palace and the White House. Also among those present were Doris and Patrick Haden of John Street, Wordsley, who met while working as glass cutters in the 1940s.
The pair, now both aged 80, have been married for 56 years. Mr Haden said: "The new centre is brilliant for the heritage of the area."
Iris Halford, aged 72, of Barton Lane, Wall Heath took along a picture of her father Arthur Sutton who worked as a glass cutter at Webb Corbett. She said she still has a lamp that he made out of a broken glass chalice at the factory.
