STEEL is back on Teesside. It’s been a turbulent few years for Redcar’s steelworks - from the lows of mothballing and redundancies to the more recent highs of a new owner, recruitment and the restarting of production.

Today we celebrate the return of steel making on Teesside with this special supplement.

The first slabs of steel produced here on our doorstep are now well on their way, by sea, to Thailand - see page 4.

And on pages 10 and 11 there’s the chance to look back at some of the poignant and emotional landmarks that have been reached in just the last few weeks.

But the battle to Save Our Steel stretches back almost a decade, with the efforts of many saving the site not just once, but twice, in the past nine years.

In April 2003 then owner Corus announced the Lackenby and Redcar sites would have to compete on the international market.

But better times came in the shape of a deal in December 2004 when Corus revealed an agreement for its Teesside Cast Products business to supply a consortium of overseas companies for the next decade.

But dark days returned in May 2009 when Corus said it was mothballing the TCP blast furnace after members of the TCP consortium walked out on the supply agreement.

And in February 2010 workers and members of the local community gathered at the site’s gates to emotionally mark the beginning of mothballing - which ended more than 150 years of steel production.