he February meeting took place in St Mary’s Church Hall, Kingswinford on February 18 at 7.45pm.

The chairman of the branch welcomed Dr Michael Hall, president of the society and James Morgan, chairman.

The speaker was Keith Hodgkins, a long standing member of the society. He is also a member of the Industrial Archaeological group of the society.

His talk was on “The last days of steel making at Round Oak”.

Plans were well under way for the closing of the factory in the 1980s.

Keith and his friend went with cameras on several evening visits to view the factory.

They were never challenged.

In spite of the glowing furnaces they saw deserted furnaces and very few workers.

These workers did not appear to be concerned about the intrusion of visitors on the premises.

Keith showed excellent pictures of machinery in what looked like a ghost town.

On December 10 1982, came the end of the steel making at Round Oak giving way eventually to Merry Hill.

|There were many ex Round Oak workers at the meeting who found the talk of great interest.

The next meeting is on March 18 when the speaker will be Siddiq Hussain and his talk on the history of British film studios.

The speaker on April 15 will be Dr Michael Hall with his talk, “Francis Brett Young’s Black Country”.

Talks are open to members and non members with a charge to cover expenses of £1 and £1.50 respectively.

All meetings take place at St Mary’s Church Hall, The Village, Kingswinford at 7.45pm.