The Duke of Edinburgh made several visits to the region over the years. One of the first Royal duties carried out by Prince Philip, was on April 29, 1953 when he officially opened the first phase of major plant developments at Hawarden Bridge Steelworks, now Tata Steel Shotton. Gordon Smith, who for many years was PR at Shotton Steel, recalls: "The works, owned at the time by John Summers and Sons Limited and renamed Shotton Works following nationalisation of the industry in 1967, had played a major national role during the Second World War, manufacturing over three million tonnes of uncoated and galvanised steel sheets for over 100 wartime uses principally air raid shelters, ammunition boxes, jerry cans and oil drums.