EFFORTS to save one of the region's oldest manufacturers have failed, as revealed exclusive on this website on Friday afternoon.

Management at Sandusky Walmsley, in Crompton Way, Astley Bridge, told staff yesterday that no buyer had come forward and the factory, on Crompton Way, would close "within two or three weeks."

Immediate redundancy was announced for 140 staff while 25 will to stay on to wind down the plant.

Unions condemned the move as "despicable" and said enough had not been done to save the plant and the jobs. They also accused the company of laying-off staff with no consultation.

"Harsh economic" conditions prompted bosses at the company - which had a turnover of £27 million - to call in administrators on August 14. They immediately made 158 of the 323 staff redundant. "

The father of a former employee, who was too upset to talk directly, said: "My son is 18 and he has been with the company for two and a half years. He has spent all his working life there training and learning the job. Now he is on the scrapheap. Where else is he going to go around here?

"He is absolutely distraught. He has never signed-on and doesn't know how to. He is at a loss what to do next."

Terry Burns, the regional officer for Amicus which represents staff, said: "The company has behaved in a despicable way, and, as far as I am concerned, the administrators have not done enough to save the site."

"People who have worked here for 30 or 40 years have just been told to clean out their lockers and go home.

"We will now ensure that workers get what they are owed."

Originally formed in Bury in 1860, the Walmsley Group, moved into Bolton in 1960 with a workforce of more than 800. At the end of the 1960s, Walmsley merged with the Beloit Corporation of Wisconsin, USA - which manufactures a wide range of machinery and parts for the wood pulp and paper industry - and in 1976 Walmsley was taken over completely and renamed Beloit Walmsley.

When Beloit's owners, Harnischfeger Industries, ran into trouble in 2000, the factory went into receivership before being acquired by Sandusky International, based in Sandusky, Ohio.