After a long journey, we arrived and were immediately greeted by our tour guide, who gave us some very interesting facts about the place. Did you know it used to produce around a quarter of Britain’s steel? Or  that it once broke the record for the amount of steel it produced?  Or that the building is a third of a mile long? We were certainly impressed by the huge scale of the place.

                        

We had all been told to dress very warmly, and indeed some of us had 6 or more layers on.  Because of this we resembled stuffed penguins! As we got into the building, we understood why. It was absolutely freezing, even colder than the wintery day outside. 

                           

The factory part of the building was eerie and imposing. All was black and grey. It was on a strikingly massive scale, with melting pots 12 metres tall and more! We felt as sort of mysterious atmosphere, and were slightly scared when we thought of all these massive machines and what they could have been like in action, and what they could have done to people and their families.

 

We began by watching “The Big Melt”, a replication of what one of the 6 furnaces would have done when the steelworks was still in action. It was extremely realistic, and the voiceover gave us a lot of interesting and useful information! 

                                        

We spent a while after this using some of the interactive screens around the factory to find out about the steel workers themselves. Some of the stories were moving, some horribly gruesome, and a few funny. It made us think about how the factory affected those living in its shadow.

 

Next we went to the fire pavilion, were we found out about and how it is used in the process of making steel. There were many activities on the subject of fire generally, our favourite being the 5ft fiery tornado! We also watched a film on the process of making steel, and a demonstration of a forge. In this demonstration we saw metal melting, bending and reforming.

 

After lunch, we went down many flights of stairs to the Earth Pavilion, where we used interactive activities to find out about rock, how iron ore is extracted and all about diggers! We all enjoyed using diggers and cranes. We found some information on mining too, and some of the stories concerning children in the mines were touching and memorable.

 

Next we made an exhausting climb to the top of the 12 storey building, were we found ourselves in a motionless airship! This was the Air Pavilion. Here we found ourselves pumping air cannons, spinning on chairs and watching clips of the bridge ’Galloping Gertie’ collapse. Yet more instructive and fun moments!

 

And finally, we found ourselves marching down to the water pavilion. Here we learned about water in all its forms; ice water and steam or water vapour. We found out about the water in our bodies, its uses in the world around us and water wastage. We all somehow managed to get wet.

 

Overall this was a fun and educational experience – we all came out with a smile on our face and knowing a lot more than we did that morning. 

 

By Charlotte Cohen and Lucy Davidson