I Remember When with Milton Rendell

Do you remember the times when the Midland Workshops and the Abattoirs were in full flight they were main employers in the Midland area? Most people knew someone or had family worked at one of these places. The numbers I have been told in terms of people employed was in the range of two and a half to three thousand people. So in today’s terms you are probably looking at the local economy in terms of wages these two institutions generated over three million dollars a week into the local community.

There was a major impact on the local economy when the Abattoirs closes in the early eighties, and the Workshops closed in 1994. As you may remember, the early nineties were a really tough time. The closures created strong negativity throughout the region for quite some time. With this in a number of ways, we did lose

direction and it was a huge gap to fill. Currently in the Midland area, the main employers are now centred around health and retail while there is still more to be developed in terms of the new private hospital and educational facilities.

There had also been a recent announcement of what many are describing as the return of a mini version of what we had before with the railways as well as a new train station. I think we have shaken a lot of negative nineties away and have plenty to look forward to.