NATION'S PRIZED POTTERY INDUSTRY FEELS HEAT

We meet ceramics factory workers and experts who say these cultural cornerstone firms must be saved

- BY SUE LEE

It takes Sharon Yates just four seconds to place a handle on a china cup. In any one shift at Staffordshire's Dunoon factory, she can produce more than 4,000 mugs.

But she's doing more than just making crockery. Sharon is part of a centuries-old traditional British industry - and is desperately trying to keep it alive.

Sharon, 56, explains: "I'm a potter through and through. My great grandmother, gran, mum and dad all worked in ceramics. So does my granddaughter Madi and daughter-in-law Leian.

"It's in our blood. That's why I fight for the industry and for its people.

"I fight for the pots and I won't give up."

That fight has been an escalating challenge for both Sharon, a GMB union rep who has worked at Dunoon for 34 years, and the industry in general.

Soaring energy prices, the impact of Brexit, cheap imports and changes in consumer habits have hit ceramics production in the UK hard.

Earlier this month, 217 years of history came to an end when the last pots were fired at the Denby pottery factory.

The family firm was founded by William Bourne, who put to good use the rich clay beneath his feet in Derbyshire.

The factory, which remained on its original site for more than two centuries, began life producing utilitarian stoneware.

Demand declined in the late 19th century, so the business diversified into ornamental ware and then later oven-to-table stoneware. In a farewell Facebook post earlier this month the firm, which highlighted rising energy and labour costs as factors in its demise, thanked customers and former employees for their support.

It added: "Centuries of making pottery at Denby may be coming to a close, but the love and soul poured into each piece will live on. We are so hugely proud of everything this Derbyshire pottery has achieved. It's not and has never just been about the pots." Administrators are currently seeking a buyer.