YOU CAN TAKE THE LAD OUT OF YORKSHIRE…. Canford has enhanced its reputation as the supplier of choice for high-quality custom metalwork in the broadcast and pro AV industries over recent years. From its facility in Portand, Dorset, UK, Canford is now regularly involved with the world’s most prestigious live sports broadcasting, infrastructure projects and is regularly manufacturing connectivity solutions for major recording studios. Key to this success is the huge wealth of experience on the team at Canford. Design and technical staff work hand-in-hand with clients who get direct access to our skilled team at Portland. Customers might raise an eyebrow when their call to Portland is answered by a friendly, if not a little difficult to understand, Yorkshireman! In between brews, Gavin Drake heads up our Portland Manufacturing Team and hails from Elland (a little known town up North!). Canford Marketing & Graphic Designer Jennifer Cassidy caught up with Gavin to ask how on earth he ended up at Canford on the Isle of Portland. You have been running our metalwork facility on the Isle of Portland in Dorset for over 22 years but can you tell us a little more about yourself? My life began 54 years ago in a little Northern town called Elland which is situated between Huddersfield and Halifax and is in the industrial heartland of what was the West Riding of Yorkshire. I was born into a stereotypical working class family. The middle son of 6 siblings. Growing up in such a large family we had very little but never went hungry and we were happy. In a time before computers and smart phones life was somewhat more straightforward and consisted of going to school before being let loose in the locality to cause a reasonable degree of mayhem (probably just below the level where the Police might be involved as that would never end well in those days!). I became street wise at a fairly early age and that stands me in good stead to this day, along with the classic Yorkshire trait of being friendly if a little too blunt on occasion. There is also that strange sense of humour that comes as standard with the odd accent and dialect…. You mention school. Did you enjoy it and what did you achieve? I went to the local comprehensive. Despite being one of the brightest pupils I fell out of love with school in my early teens and stopped making an effort, I left at 16 with few qualifications. This wasn’t unexpected for me or many of my peers. Our social groups had few aspirations and the belief that our paths were to leave school at the first opportunity, and go on to manual work within a factory as our parents had done before us. I initially secured an engineering apprenticeship within a local company at 16 but was let go at 18 by the owner who decided I wasn’t cut-out for a career in engineering! From there I moved on to working within a plastic injection moulding company where I remained for 11 years before moving to the South. 62 | Source Material by Canford
On that note what exactly brought you to the South of England? So over 11 years at the injection moulding company I’d worked my way up to the position of Materials Supervisor supporting the Purchasing Manager in procuring and managing raw materials and components. I had also gained a significant amount of production experience and an excellent understanding of how things worked, or as was more often the case didn’t! In 1996 our Managing Director left to purchase a large injection moulding company in the New Forest. He subsequently offered me a better role within this company and seeing the opportunity to progress I moved my entire family 270 miles South to somewhere I’d barely heard of before (I initially thought it was in Germany until I discovered that was actually the Black Forest…..). It initially went very well and within 2 years I had been promoted to Operations Manager with full control of production and purchasing. This was sadly where the good news ended as before I was able to fully take up the role the company was forced into closure. So from here how did you end up joining Canford in late 1999? I subsequently secured a role as Production Manager at an Electronics company in Southampton some 20 miles away from where I lived. I thought long and hard before accepting the position because the idea of a 40 mile round trip every day did not appeal. This company then decided they were moving to Wimbledon and there was no way I was making that round trip every day so I was on the move again. This is where my Canford journey begins. I had sent my CV to a local recruitment company where the story goes that it landed on the desk of one of their consultants at exactly the Call UK sales on +44(0)191 418 1122 or email sales@canford.co.uk
