Step back in time to 1970 with a fascinating collection of photographs capturing life across Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Staffordshire.
From industrial workplaces and civic occasions to everyday street scenes and suburban life, these pictures offer a glimpse of the people, places and traditions that shaped the region at the start of a new decade.
Do you remember any of these places or scenes from 1970? Share your memories in the comments - we’d love to hear your stories.
- 21 nostalgic pictures that prove the good old days were anything but dull – see the pictures here
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25. Steaming gigantic glass fibre vessels for London wine docks
Enormous cylindrical tanks undergo specialised high-pressure steam cleaning in February 18, 1970. Manufactured by Prodorite of Wednesbury using glass fibre, the giant containers held between 5,000 and 10,000 gallons each for a major wine storage project for the Port of London Authority. Before delivery, equipment supplied by Andrews Industrial Equipment of Wolverhampton non-chemically sterilised each tank at 90 degrees for at least three hours, ensuring the vessels were perfectly prepped for bulk wine transport. Do you remember Prodorite or Andrews Industrial Equipment operating across Wednesbury and Wolverhampton? Did anyone in your family work on manufacturing or servicing industrial storage tanks like these back in the 1970s? | Express & Star archive
26. Precision machining for high capacity industrial rolling mills
Machinists closely monitor a massive plano-miller at the metal-forming plant division of GKN Machinery, Ltd. in Wolverhampton on October 31, 1970. The skilled engineers are at work on the roll housings of a £160,000 bi-metallic strip mill being manufactured for Vandervell Products. Each large casting for the two-high mill stand required approximately seven hours of rough machining followed by eleven hours in the finishing stage, yielding stands engineered to support a rolling load specification of 300 tons. Do you remember GKN Machinery's sprawling works in Wolverhampton or know anyone who operated these massive industrial tools? What are your memories of the engineering plants that powered the local economy back in 1970? | Express & Star archive
27. Warming hands around a brazier on the picket line
Striking refuse collectors gather around a burning dustbin to keep warm outside the Crown Street depot of the Wolverhampton Cleansing Department on October 9, 1970. Placed alongside official National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) placards, the improvised brazier provided much needed relief for workers standing picket duty during autumn industrial action. The atmospheric shot captures the solidarity and makeshift spirit of public service workers taking a stand during a turbulent era for British labour relations. Do you remember the NUPE public service strikes or seeing picket lines set up outside local council depots in autumn 1970? How did the disruptions affect everyday services around Wolverhampton at the time? | Express & Star archive
28. Clearing the path for a landmark colliery transformation
A heavy crane fitted with a wrecking ball smashes through concrete structures at the former Baggeridge Colliery in Gospel End, Sedgley, in October 1970. First developed in 1896 when the Earl of Dudley began boring for deep-set coal at the local beauty spot, the historic pit produced millions of tons of coal before industrial mining finally drew to a close in 1968. The dramatic clearance scene marked the end of an influential mining era, laying the groundwork for the site to eventually be reclaimed and reborn as a popular country park. Do you remember seeing the old colliery buildings being pulled down around Gospel End back in 1970? Did anyone in your family work down the pit at Baggeridge Colliery during its operational years? | Express & Star archive