A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ on a unique bid being done in the town of Hartlepool to attract new technology companies to the area and create a better life for the town. Presenter Ian Breach travels to Hartlepool and speaks with several companies who have already been attracted to the town about what they can offer with regards employment opportunities. Ian also speaks with educators both within the public and private sector about the...

A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ on a unique bid being done in the town of Hartlepool to attract new technology companies to the area and create a better life for the town. Presenter Ian Breach travels to Hartlepool and speaks with several companies who have already been attracted to the town about what they can offer with regards employment opportunities. Ian also speaks with educators both within the public and private sector about the training they are offering both the young as well as those whose jobs have been lost in more traditional industries to be ready for Hartlepool to become, potentially, a new Silicon Valley. Title: Tyne Tees Briefing In the Tyne Tees Television studio in Newcastle the voice synthesiser generated by a BBC Microcomputer introduces this week’s edition. Sitting nearby presenter Ian Breach provides details on the work being done in Hartlepool to turn the town into a home for the technologies of the next century. From an elevated a panorama of the town of Hartlepool below ending on Ian Breach speaking to camera on the help the town is getting from central government and the European Economic Community (EEC) as well as competitions sponsored by the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency that is bring prosperity back to the area. Residents walk through a local shopping precinct change to Hartlepool Council Civic Centre. A car park seen from a roof change to rows of terraced houses is followed by Ian Breach conducts a vox pop with local men and women asking them about the town’s employment prospects for both them and their children. Many complain about the lack of job prospects, those with children believe they would have to move away to find work. Qualification in modern technologies is seen as important for many of those interviewed. A montage of the derelict Hartlepool Dock area with two boys fishing from an empty dock. Various ‘For Lease’ for ‘For Sale’ signs on several old commercial buildings. Another montage of the former Hartlepool steel mill closed in 1977 showing empty and vandalised factory and office buildings alongside a large cooling tower. Interview with Sir Charles Villiers former Chairman of British Steel Corporation (BSC) about the closure of the mill under his leadership. He explains that while the mill needed to go, he was pleased that new businesses did come to the area but saddened that didn’t bring enough jobs. He believes Hartlepool has the capability of becoming a high-technology town, he goes onto talk about the biggest challenges is convincing large company to adapt to the information and high-tech age. Sitting at his desk Ian Breach speaks with John Smith a Director of the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency asking what sort of place is Hartlepool? He explains that the town has never been settled as a district withing either County Durham or now Cleveland. It is a very independent and parochial ‘small village’ of a town. The exterior of an office block in the town, home of the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency, changes to the front page of Electronics Weekly and a circled article about a £25,000 prize put together with the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency to attract new industries to the town. John Smith talks about the competition which he describes as ‘vertical selling’ and what the town gets out of being part of this competition. On a wall a map showing areas of the Hartlepool Enterprise Zone, on a table nearby leaflets and other marketing and publicity material. On a building site for the enterprise zone Eddie Morley Industrial Development Officer talks about applying for a loan to extend it as it is currently going well. He states that the biggest issues the region has of attracting industry to the Northeast is its image which they are trying to change. From an office overlooking the town below, Ian Breach asks Mike Elliott Editor of Electronics Weekly what interest does the magazine have in the industrial recovery in Hartlepool? He says that they recognised that electronics industries were being increasingly attracted to the Southeast to the detriment of the rest of the country and wanted to help build up an electronics community outside that region. As he speaks additional articles in Electronics Weekly relating to the competition and Hartlepool. A montage of consumer electrical goods including a shop window featuring a BBC Microcomputer for sale, a woman using a Lloyds Cashpoint machine and in a shop a set of electric scales being used and a cashier at a till adding up goods being purchased. Inside the factory belonging to electronics company Isocom women work to assemble and test switching devises used in modern electrical devises. Managing Director Colin Rees talks about the company and how the components they produces are used in conjunction with microprocessors in many electronic items. As he talks about the growth of the company and his initial impressions of working in Hartlepool women continue to work at put together individual switches from the components laid out in front of them. A Job Centre on the corner of Dalton Street and York Road in Hartlepool. Across the road an office block and inside Semiconductor Dye Processing (SDP) and a sign on a door reads ‘Special Handling Area’. A man in a white laboratory coat passes through several doors, including the one with the sign, to work in a clean area. In that room two men and a woman look through microscopes checking over prefabricated transistors produced by the company. Bill Southeran Managing Direct of SDP talks about his desire to employ more local people but describes the electronics industry as a ‘low labour content business’. As employees continue to work with the microscopes or perform other microprocessor work, Bill Southeran explains that there is an exclusive hardcore of people trying to attract jobs to Hartlepool in future technologies. He goes onto talk about the challenges of setting up his company. As students at Hartlepool College of Further Education work to learn how to use computers, Ian Breach asks the question if computers are going to replace jobs that could be seen as either dangerous or deadening, will it generate something better to replace them? Title: End of Part One Part Two Students at Hartlepool College of Further Education continue to learn how to use computers watched over by tutors. One student produces a design on a screen which is then printed. Colin Dorman Principle of Hartlepool College of Further Education explains that he believes the only future for Hartlepool is in new technologies and provides details on what the college did to equip itself to compete with other colleges. The media and guests stand around Hartlepool MP Ted Leadbetter as he opens a private training centre in the town run by P.B. Whitford. He makes a speech about the importance of such centres before being applauded as he unveils a commemorative plaque. Martin Dawson Technical Director of P.B. Whitford talks about moving to the town and working with the likes of Ted Leadbetter to open the centre to provide the training necessary to re-train those who had worked in traditional industries such as steelmaking so that they can be employed by the new technology companies who are moving to the area. In a workshop at the Whitford centre trainees lean mechanical and maintenance skills for the repair of washing machines. In a classroom other students learn about installing and use of computers and video terminals. On a wall a list of courses at the centre that range from Ultrasonic Technician, Industrial Radiographer and Diploma in Television Production Techniques to Domestic Appliance Service and Repair and Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Services. As a tutor helps students in his computer class, Martin Dawson talks about the importance of these courses in industry. On a table photographs and literature relating to the Youth Training Scheme which has a course at the in computer skills and sales. A montage of other training classes including those on the Ultrasonic Technician and Industrial Radiographer courses as well as Domestic Appliance Service and Repair with tutors working on the washing machines seen previous. Back at Hartlepool College of Further Education Colin Dorman is asked what relevance are the courses at the college? He explains the college is in both the education and the training business and currently aren’t in direct competition with private organisations such as Whitford’s. In a Robotics workshop at the college students watches as a robotic arm moves a small container, in an Engineering workshop a tutor shows his student how to use a machine-controlled precision tool. At J.J. Hardy Millwrights Engineers in the town the company and a workshop containing precision tools similar to the ones seen at Hartlepool College of Further Education. Ian Breach asks Managing Director Tom Pailor about what the company has leaned by using these new technologies. As he explains how and when the company switched from traditional to electronics and newer technologies a young man programming and watching over a precision lathe. Sitting with Tom Pailor Ian Breach watches as he programmes a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) system which outputs a computer programme that can be passed to an engineer of the factory floor to produce precision products. As Tom Pailor talks about the importance of CNC to his company, a worker watches over a machine producing said product. He sees the challenges of larger company being able to adapt to this type of technology and in the future companies like his becoming smaller and more specialised. Back at SDP three women looking through microscopes checking over prefabricated transistors. Mike Elliott from Electronics Weekly believes that if companies like Isocom are able to gain a market share they will need to employ more people to manufacture their products, possibly into the hundreds. He hopes if more companies become attracted to Hartlepool, then this will eventually lead to higher rates of employment in the town than these new technology companies can currently offer. He goes onto talk about the initial talent and impetus of a company to come to the area in order to attract other companies. A building site for a new Isocom factory unit part way through construction. Sitting at his desk beside a drawing of the new factory Andrew Mann Technical Director for Isocom provides details on the number of Hartlepool people the company will employ alongside automative equipment and what the factory will produce. Ian Breach asks about the growth of the company and if it reflects what is happening internationally in the electronics business, if or when will the growth level out and how can a company based in a town like Hartlepool compete with other companies both within Britain and abroad? He is also asked from which county does Britain have most to learn? Mr Mann replies Silicon Valley from where he has come. Ian Breach then ask can we have a Silicon Valley in Britain and will Isocom being employing more senior engineers? As Mr Mann responds in voiceover he walks around the factory floor speaking with some of the technicians at work. Mr Mann ends the interview by stating that he can’t see why Hartlepool can’t take off as a centre of high technology. Returning to the Tyne Tees studio Ian Breach provides details of the winner of the Electronics Weekly competition which was Currah Computer Components whose voice synthesiser was used at the very start of the programme. Sitting beside Ian is Tony Sillars from Currah Computer Components who explains the practical use and application of the voice synthesiser and what the company will bring to Hartlepool. Alan Humble from the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency was pleasantly surprised that a company actually from Hartlepool won the competition, but it is a plus for attracting other industries to the area. Further discussions are had on future optimism for the town. The programme ends with a final comment from John Smith of the Hartlepool Enterprise Agency who talks about the myth of a ‘golden job’ at the end of higher education which he believes doesn’t exist anymore. He is asked is Hartlepool ‘grasping at straws’ by focusing on new technologies, John replies that you can build bricks with straw and Hartlepool are going to build bricks. Credit: Presenter Ian Breach Film Camera Eddie Crooks Film Sound Ian Richardson Film Editor Peter Telford Associate Producer Alex Murchie Political Editor John Sleight Film Director Rob Cowley Studio Director Bernard Preston Producer Bob Farnworth End title: Tyne Tees Colour. © Tyne Tees Television Ltd. MCMLXXXIV