For many people across the Black Country and Staffordshire, the 1980s meant factories, workshops and industrial estates were a familiar part of everyday life. The sound of machinery, the smell of oil and metal, workers arriving for shifts and lorries coming and going were all part of the local landscape.
These photographs take us back to a decade when traditional skills were being joined by new technology. Engineers, machinists, printers, foundry workers and factory teams were keeping production moving, while local firms invested in new machinery, developed new products and won orders from around the world.
From Wolverhampton and Willenhall to Walsall, Dudley, Stafford and beyond, these pictures capture the people, workplaces and businesses that helped shape the region.
Do you remember any of these factories or firms? Perhaps you worked in one of them, or had a family member who did? Take a look through and see how many bring back memories - the pictures are in no particular order - and share yours in the comments.
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1. Printing cheques in the heart of West Bromwich
Sid Allen, Andy Blunt, Martin Caddick and Malcolm Payton are pictured demonstrating the printing of cheque forms at Kenrick & Jefferson in West Bromwich High Street in July 1980. The photograph offers a glimpse of the specialist printing work taking place in the town at a time when cheques were still a familiar part of everyday banking and business. Do you remember Kenrick & Jefferson or working in the printing trade? What other West Bromwich firms do you remember from the 1980s? | Express & Star archive
2. The careful work behind every cheque book
Staff at Kenrick & Jefferson, specialist printers in West Bromwich High Street, are pictured in July 1980 carrying out the detailed checking work needed before cheque books could be finally bound. These women were responsible for checking sections of the cheque books, an important stage in the printing process where accuracy was essential. It is easy to overlook the amount of careful work that went into producing everyday items such as cheque books. Did anyone in your family have a job that involved checking or inspecting work like this? | Express & Star archive
3. Jobs for young people during the recession
Sheet Metal Workers (Cradley) was fighting the recession by taking on young people from the dole queue when this photograph was taken. The firm, based at Factory Centre in Woods Lane, had employed nearly 30 youngsters as part of an expansion programme, with orders for its metal toolboxes continuing to grow. Among them were 18-year-olds Mandy Tonkin and Tracey Bennett, who had trained as a chef and nursery nurse respectively before becoming press operators. They are pictured with foreman Arthur Gennard. Do you remember working at Sheet Metal Workers (Cradley)? Did you or someone in your family get their first job during the recession of the 1980s? | Express & Star archive
4. A growing furnace business
Workers at Ecotherm Furnaces in Great Bridge, Tipton, are pictured welding nickel-chrome sections of a new sintering muffle furnace in April 1984. The company had moved from Redditch to a much larger 70,000 sq ft factory, using 30,000 sq ft for its own operations and creating an extra 25 local jobs. Started by husband and wife Melvin and Louise Wheeler just six years earlier, Ecotherm had grown from a tiny 250 sq ft unit to a company employing almost 50 people. Do you remember Ecotherm Furnaces or the factory at Great Bridge? Did you or someone you know work there during the 1980s? | Express & Star archive