Made on Teesside – a memorial sculpture to Teesside’s ‘man of steel’

A memorial sculpture to Teesside’s man of steel Geoff Waterfield, unveiled at Steel House, Redcar, was designed by a Teesside University lecturer and artist.

Lewis Robinson, Sculptor and Senior lecturer in Fine Art at the University’s School of Arts & Media, designed the tribute which was made from the last slab of steel manufactured in 2010 before the plant was mothballed and the first to come off the production line in 2012 under new SSI ownership.

A chemist by trade, Geoff Waterfield worked in the steel industry for 24 years. In 2009, as Corus announced plans to mothball the Teesside Cast Products plant at Redcar, the Save Our Steel campaign began.

Geoff flew to Thailand to press the case for Teesside with then suitor SSI and he took the fight for the future of Teesside steel to Government’s highest level. He died aged just 43 at the end of August 2011.

Geoff’s partner Sheryl Petite and his 12-year-old son Wills, unveiled the memorial plaque which stands in front of the sculpture at Steel House.

SSI UK’s Chief Executive Phil Dryden said: ‘We thought long and hard about how we could create a lasting and fitting memorial to Geoff. We already had two thoughts to help us; firstly, Geoff was always insistent that the first SSI slab should be positioned outside Steel House and how we could acknowledge the history of the site by ensuring that the last slab cast before the plant was mothballed in February 2010 would play a part in that same monument?

‘Being mostly engineers and scientists we turned to our friends at Teesside University and to artist Lewis Robinson for our artistic inspiration. Lewis took on the task of designing something which would meet our needs. The design, manufacture and erection of the sculpture has been a great team effort - ‘Made from Teesside Steel by Teesside people’ – it had to be.’

Lewis said: ‘The task was to create a suitable monument that would reflect the robust nature of this particular industry and pay a fitting tribute to a man who contributed so much to the revival of steelmaking on Teesside. It has been an immense pleasure and honour to work with a great team from SSI UK and associated contractors.’

Professor Gerda Roper, Dean of the School of Arts & Media, added: ‘We are delighted that one of our talented members of staff was approached for this memorial to such a dedicated man as Geoff Waterfield, who is forever held in the hearts of so many Teessiders for his part in regenerating such an important industry. It is wonderful for the University to be associated with this.’

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