James took pride in the work he did. He had no idea it was slowly killing him
The workplace was immortalised by Greater Manchester's most famous painter. Fittingly titled 'Going to Work', LS Lowry's painting depicts the Mather and Platt engineering plant in Newton Heath, with staff streaming in for a shift.
James Blower went to work there for 25 years off and on, between 1953 - ten years after Lowry painted it - and 1978. READ MORE: His family remember his stories about the steel fabrication and welding work he did for the firm, and the other jobs he did for them that made other workers safer - like fitting sprinkler systems in factories.
It means the thought that that work might have been killing him, gradually, is difficult for them to come to terms with. James, from Oldham, started to suffer breathlessness in early 2019, and died just four days after receiving a diagnosis, at the age of 81. “After we found out that dad had cancer, I spent as much time as I could with him," his 55-year-old daughter Valerie said. "When he was in hospital, I visited him every day and sat with him, and when he was in the care home, both Pamela and I took it in turns to be with him. “He became very subdued as the days passed and slept more.
I was at my daughter Leanne’s house when I got the call from the care home that he didn’t have long left and I went there straight away.
