Before the industrial decline in the late 1970s and 1980s, Wednesbury was a successful manufacturing town, where all kinds of products were made. Manufacturing has now declined, and lost its once dominant position. Some of the manufacturers such as F. H. Lloyd & Company Limited; The Patent Shaft Steel Works; and Old Park Works, owned by Metropolitan Cammell, had huge factories employing many thousands of people. Others had small factories or workshops which surrounded the town.

The noise of industry was everywhere. At night the sky glowed with light from the factories, and the sounds of heavy industry reverberated throughout the area. The town was a busy place, with large amounts of components and raw materials being delivered to the factories, and finished products, both large, and small, being delivered to customers.

It was a happy and affluent time, with nearly full employment. There were jobs to be had for those willing to work, and seemingly, job security for life, in a time before the majority of local factories closed, and it became unfashionable to work in industry.

We now live in a different age, where the urge to make things, or be an engineer, or metallurgist has almost gone. In the 1960s the slogan 'Made in Britain' meant something, we were justifiably proud of our home-based industries, and our world-beating products. The adverts that follow cover only a fraction of once locally made items, and give a flavour of what it was all about.