These nostalgic photos capture men and women toiling away at sites in and around Nottingham and the wider county during the 60s and 70s.
From factories, caves and coal mines to roads and the railway network, these employees are seen working hard to bolster the region’s economy and keep things flowing smoothly.
Conditions could be brutal back then, as these images show, with back-breaking labour often carried out amid fierce heat and the deafening roar of machinery.
Do you have any photos from the time? Send them to [email protected].
1. Miners at the Bevercotes Colliery in Nottinghamshire
26th October 1973. Bevercotes was one of the first fully automated mines in the UK. | Getty Images
2. Demolition of the Hurst Park grandstand
A man operating a bulldozer during the demolition of the Hurst Park grandstand at Field Mill, Mansfield Town FC's football ground in Nottinghamshire, March 7th 1963. | Getty Images
3. Apprentice at work, Globe & Simpson auto electrical workshop, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1961.
Sheffield-based Globe & Simpson ran an auto electrical engineeing and fuel feed service on a national level. This photograph shows the Nottingham workshop with an apprentice working on a fuel feed pump. | Heritage Images/Getty Images
4. Control room at Newark Sugar Factory.
During the 1970s Laing built a factory extension at the Newark Sugar Factory and three sugar silos and appear to have subsequently carried out work here into the 1980s. This photograph is part of a batch taken to show parts of the factory designed by John Laing Design Associates, designers of sugar silos at various sites run by the British Sugar Corporation. | Heritage Images via Getty Images