Hundreds got a sneak look behind the scenes at a giant Huddersfield chemical plant.

And bosses at Syngenta hope many more will get the same opportunity next year, as the company marks its centenary.

Over 600 people visited Syngenta’s Leeds Road plant as the company opened its doors for the first time in years to families of staff and its contract partners.

The manufacturing complex, which has been part of Huddersfield’s industrial scene for 100 years, is hosting a series of events to mark its centenary year in 2016 and the firm put on a family fun day for its workers and contract partners.

Originally built to manufacture dyestuffs for the textile industry, Syngenta now produces premium brand crop protection products at the site, helping farmers all over the world protect their crops from weeds and disease.

The factory has previously been home to British Dyestuffs, ICI and Zeneca.

A bus tour showed people around the factory and took them to a chemical plant where they could learn about modern processing methods.

Staff at the company also managed to transform part of the site into a family fun park for the day where visitors were treated to fairground attractions, popcorn and candy floss.

Party band, “Sound Town” provided live entertainment and Golcar Brass Band performed for guests while they tucked into their lunch supplied by Grill Time Catering.

One of the organisers, Syngenta’s Karen Gibson said “We’ve had a great event bringing together staff and their families inside the site boundary, where many of our colleagues have been able to show their families where they work. We had welcome support from a many number of volunteers and community groups such as Hollybank Trust, Kirkwood Hospice and Forget Me Not Trust.”

Events company Simply The Best worked with Syngenta and the day was filmed by the Media and Studio School based at Rawthorpe.

Carl Sykes, of Syngenta said “It’s the first time in 25 years we have done anything like this on this scale - and celebrating our centenary is the ideal platform to show people how we make our products.

“Our aim is to open our doors to the public in 2016 and we shall start planning for that right now.”