trees work work trees A Portrait of Birkenhead Business by Len Grant
A commission for The Mersey Forest
It might only be a line of trees to some people but it means a great deal to us.
This newspaper accompanies the Trees • Work exhibition at The Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Slatey Road, Birkenhead, ch43 4ue 24th October–23rd November 2014 Opening times: Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm www.williamsonartgallery.org
This project has received European Regional Development Funding through INTERREG IVB NWE
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Trees • Work
A Portrait of Birkenhead Business There’s barely a single tree in my exhibition, Trees • Work, although there are plenty of workers to make up for it. The panel beaters, engineers, interior designers, brewers, bus drivers and technicians that feature here all work in a relatively small part of Birkenhead between the ferry terminal and Birkenhead North. It’s an intriguing area of industrial units, car washes, factories, garages, salvage yards and Georgian terraced offices. Wonderful material for a curious photographer. Together with the residential areas that surround it, this part of Birkenhead has been the focus of The Mersey Forest’s tree planting programme for the last 12 months or more. So that’s where the trees come in. My portraits and interviews tie the two together – I’m that little blob in the title between ‘trees’ and ‘work’ – where I highlight the diversity of industry in the area and give a nod to the impact the dozens of Dawn Redwoods or Indian Bean Trees will make on this angular landscape. “It might only be a line of trees to some people but it means a great deal to us,” one local business leader told me, concerned about how the area was looking. According to a local environmental survey carried out amongst businesses at about the time I was taking my photographs, an overwhelming number agreed that the new trees ‘would make the area look better’ and ‘improve its image’. “What is there not to like about trees?” is the overriding response from businesses when asked about the new saplings, and apparently eight in nine businesses in the survey said they’d like to see more trees planted locally. The Trees • Work exhibition at The Williamson was launched on Thursday, 23rd October, 170 years after the laying of the original foundation stone for Birkenhead Docks in 1844. It’s a date I discovered quite by chance but it seems all the more relevant with what’s around the corner. With the Wirral Waters development poised to jump down from the drawing board, The Mersey Forest tree planting initiative is helping to lay new foundations for a revival in the prosperity that Birkenhead deserves. Trees • Work. Let’s help it happen. Len Grant
‘The Laying of a Foundation Stone laid by Sir Philip Malpas deGrey Egerton’ by Edward Duncan (1803-1882) Trees • Work
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The trees? I think they’re great to be honest. What is there not to like? We travel in from the north and there’s a new line just planted by the tramline, along the dock wall. In two or three years you won’t even see the wall, you’ll just see all this greenery.
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Trees • Work
peerless brewing company ltd
A David and Goliath tale Steve and Rose Briscoe started the Peerless Brewing Company in 2010, during a recession and in a shrinking beer market. They now employ four others and are about to double the capacity of their Pool Street micro brewery. “Twenty years ago there were only 250 brewers in this country, now there are over 1,200. That’s a phenomenal number and half of those are less than four years old. Yes, the beer market is shrinking but the real ale share is increasing and now we’re nipping at the heels of the big boys.” “I have to ask you this,” I say, “but I think I already know the answer. How did it all start? You’re going to tell me that it was a passion that you’ve made into a profession.” “Yes, pretty much. I started brewing at 16, I guess I wasn’t even old enough to drink. I was an apprentice with General Electric in The Midlands and was on £12 a week, so we couldn’t afford to drink.
“I joined the beer club with all these olds guys… you know, in their 50s… and I learnt how to brew beer. We had those big tins… Tom Caxton Best Bitter, Boots Best Bitter and the Geordie Beer Kit.” “I remember those,” I say, “and the big plastic tubs under the stairs. My efforts were pretty much undrinkable.” “So were mine to begin with,” admits Steve. I could listen to Steve talk about brewing all day – there’s something fascinating about this age-old industry continuing to thrive despite the conglomerate competition, the prohibitive supermarket discounting and the oppressive tax regime. It’s a real David and Goliath tale. But I ask him instead about Birkenhead and the trees. “The trees? I think they’re great to be honest. What is there not to like? We travel in from the north and there’s a new line just planted by the old tramline, along the dock wall. In two or three years you won’t even see the wall, you’ll just see all this greenery. I think everywhere should be greened up, I really do.”
“And Birkenhead? Why did you decide to put your business here?” “We’ve lived and worked on the Wirral for the last 25 years and Birkenhead has a good selection of industrial premises. All the things you need for brewing are in industrial areas. Even the old Victorian breweries were in the middle of towns: they wanted the beer to be near the people. Here we’re close to the motorways and the tunnels, we can be north, south or east in no time. “There’s nothing wrong with Birkenhead. It is what it is. It’s a hard-working, gritty town. But it does need to change. It has the potential to have a real future. It just needs some dressing up. And if the trees help dress it up then I’m all for it.”
Brewers, Mark Powell and Alex Morley with Steve Briscoe and David Wilson Trees • Work
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plantglobe ltd and eagle manufacturing ltd
Out of the ashes I find an advert from the 1960s for Moon Brothers, a large engineering company that had been based on Beaufort Road since 1912. The ad talks of ‘Semi-Automatic Curlers, Swagers and Flangers’; sheet metalworking machines it made for other manufacturers. Another black-and-white trade ad from a decade earlier declares, ‘Tight Seams Ensured with the Inverted Chime Drum Seamer’. Moon were well known for their tin box and drum-making machinery. At its peak the company ran a huge factory employing 250 local workers from Birkenhead and beyond. In 1980 Moon sold out to Canadian company, Eagle, and the workforce dropped to about 160 with 25 or so regularly working nights to meet customers’ demands. For just over 20 years Eagle carried on the Moon tradition, which had expanded into the automotive trade, until in 2001 the Canadian bosses rationalised their European operation and ‘shut the door’ on their Birkenhead factory, putting 150 people out of work. This is where the story gets interesting. Out of the ashes, so to speak, new companies have risen, two of them based on the original Moon site at Beaufort Road. “I was taken on in 1981, one of the first Eagle apprentices,” says Paul Thompson, “and at first I was a machinist on the shop floor. So I’d been with the company for about 19 years by the time they closed. By then I was operations manager. After Eagle’s demise I set up as Plantglobe Ltd to make the machines that make car exhaust systems and others that make 45 gallon oil drums.
“I also bought Moon’s intellectual property rights – I’ve got drawings going back to 1905 – so we’re able to service and repair all the old machinery that is still in use. I’ve had a couple of orders for parts for pre-World War II machines and last year we refurbished a 1970s model to sell on.” Paul and his small workforce share their factory unit with another ex-Eagle colleague and his team of engineers: “We do all his manufacturing and he does all our electrical work,” says Paul. “It works well for us both. When customers visit us here it looks like we’re bigger than we are!” The Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes-story is repeated next door where Eagle’s former production manager, Colin Shimmin and ex-colleagues now manufacture the tooling that makes car exhausts. “When Eagle Precision Technologies closed, two of the tool designers set up to design and sell to the Eagle-style tooling,” explains Colin. “They asked me who I knew who could manufacture it. I said I would. “So we registered the name Eagle Manufacturing, to keep some consistency, and all the lads from here – apart from one who we took on subsequently as an apprentice – are from the old company. The two designers – Exhaust Tooling Ltd – are based on the other side of the dock. They do all the design and selling, and I do all the manufacture and assembly.” Colin’s now worked as long as boss of his own company as he had for his previous employers. At 63 he’s got no plans of retiring. “I like what I do. It give you something to get up for,” he says.
Plantglobe’s Paul Thompson, left, with colleagues James, Paul. Robbie, Neil, Andy and George 6
Trees • Work
Colin Shimmin of Eagle Manufacturing, centre, with Neil, Kyle, Dave, Keith and Paul Trees • Work
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mcewan wallace
Enormous potential I’m a bit taken aback. They’re the largest firm of chartered accountants and business advisors on the Wirral, employing over 60 staff across three divisions, and still they seem extremely grateful for this single tree Mersey Forest has planted outside their front door. “Thanks for your time,” I say to three of the directors after they stand for the photograph. “They’ve given us a tree, it’s the least we could do,” says Paul Cochrane as he leads me to meeting room for a quick chat. At the start of this project I was a little skeptical of Mersey Forest’s claim that tree-planting led to business investment. But now, after some months listening to people like Paul I can see how.
“Tree-lined boulevards look fantastic, “Good. Tell me something about don’t they?” he says. “You look at any Birkenhead as a place to do business. planning proposal for any sort of property Clearly it has a long history of industry and – a supermarket, office block, residential in the past would have been really buzzing. development – it’s no coincidence that Is there a renewed level of expectancy there are always trees in their visualisations. with Wirral Waters and a new wave of It makes everything look softer.” regeneration?” “And now you’ve got one right outside your office?” “Yes. We’ve got a marvellous green space just up the road at Hamilton Square so it’s good to extend that down here into what would otherwise be a rather harsh office and retail environment.” “So you’re all for it?” “Absolutely.”
“We have a fabulous waterfront and Liverpool has a wonderful skyline,” says Paul, “but the best view of that skyline is from Birkenhead, not from Liverpool. So, yes the potential is enormous. We’ve thought about moving down there but we’ll have to wait until there’s the right type of accommodation and a critical mass of relocations. Peel Holdings are facilitators, not financiers and these things take time.”
Tree-lined boulevards look fantastic, don’t they?
From the left: Kris Billington, Alastair Gould and Paul Cochrane 8
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lawtons furniture ltd
The Sock Man Paul Snr set up in business in his early 20s and has never looked back. He moved his young family from inner-city Liverpool to picturesque West Kirby on The Wirral and started a market stall on Birkenhead market. Originally in hosiery, underwear and socks – so to speak – he then sold sweets before moving into furniture with his son, Paul Jnr. From a 10-ft market stall they now operate from this 50,000 sq ft premises on Pool Street from where they sell discounted furniture from major high street retailers. “My dad is a great believer that there is someone ‘upstairs’ looking down on him. Certainly every decision he has made has worked out well for him and his family. “Everyone around here still knows him as The Sock Man! As kids they’d be brought along to the stall for knickers or socks or whatever. I remember when we were on a family holiday in Spain people would even shout from across the street: ‘Oh look! there’s The Sock Man!’ “After the socks he starting selling sweets in an indoor stall. His was the only sweet shop and it just took off big time. He had five staff on that stall, all handing over bags of toffees and pear drops. I always knew I wanted to be part of what my dad was doing and at 15 I left school and joined him. “By then he was looking to expand and there was a business on the market selling reproduction furniture so we decided to dip our toes into that. But, always looking for a new challenge, he then went off to Wales to run a campsite supermarket. “While he was there he bought a sofa from Westbridge Furniture in Clywd and we ended up selling their seconds on the market stall. That went really well and we made a decision then that furniture would be our future. We sold the sweet stall, my dad left the supermarket and now, five years later, we’re turning over nearly £2 million a year. “We originally had a showroom near Cammel Laird, but outgrew that within a year. Yes, this is off the beaten track, but it’s got the space we need. It’s been a engineering company, a cockle processing plant and, before we moved here, it was the base for Cathay Cane, a well-known cane furniture importer. “I think my dad’s entrepreneurial plans are all behind him now. He’s beginning to take it easy and enjoy life. Then again…”
From the left: Mandy Lawton, Paul Lawton Jnr, Scott Smith and Mark Owens Trees • Work
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j & m profile services ltd
An historic site Two hundred years ago, from a stretch of what is now Beaufort Road, you’d have been able to throw pebbles into Wallasey Pool. The natural river inlet was just that and no one had yet considered creating the Birkenhead Docks by reclaiming large swathes of land. At first Scotsman William Laird made iron boilers. But when he was joined in his business by his son John, they started to make iron ships and the first was apparently launched straight into the Pool in 1829 from the Vauxhall Iron Foundry, now home to J & M Profiles. A wealthy landowner, William Laird commissioned signature architect James Gillespie Graham, already famous for creating Edinburgh’s grandeur, to design a new square for the developing town. Hamilton Square remains one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the country, second only to Trafalgar Square for having the most Grade 1 listed buildings in one place. After his father’s death, John Laird expanded the shipbuilding business, making steam ships and then steel ships. And he too got involved. As Birkenhead grew he became its first mayor and, as chairman of the Birkenhead Empowerment Committee, he oversaw the creation of a market, a police force and ensured the streets were both clean and well lit. When the town became large enough to send its own representative to Westminster, it was no surprise that John Laird was its first MP. Such was his popularity that, three years after his death in 1874, his statue was unveiled in Hamilton Square witnessed by over 2,000 local men and women. The shipbuilding company was passed to John’s three sons who joined with Charles Cammel and Co of Sheffield in 1903 to become Cammel Laird, from whose dockside site across the way from the Vauxhall Iron Foundry, you could still throw pebbles into what is now West Float. The dozen or so skilled engineers at J & M are still very much connected with this corner of Birkenhead. I photograph those who are willing beside a section of what will be a massive outlet pipe for another land reclamation project across the River Mersey at Seaforth. And much of the bespoke steel they fabricate for the marine industry heads off from nearby docks. Steve Roberts and his colleagues are more than aware of the local heritage they’ve inherited. Any connection with the Lairds still carries kudos today. And rightly so. They did, after all, make Birkenhead.
From the left: Steve, Will, Alan, Ritchie, Paul and Jeff 10
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Trees • Work
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kingston shaw ltd
Putting the glamour back into Birkenhead Kingston Shaw are interior designers so it’s no surprise they take an active participation in the setting of my portrait. I set up my lights and leave Annmarie and Rebecca to decide how the scene is ‘dressed’. After some deliberation over props they are, for a moment, concerned they’re taking too much of my time. Not a bit of it. After shooting on the hoof in car workshops and engineering works, it’s refreshing to have a couple of creative collaborators making their mark. After our picture I sit down with project director, Annmarie who has worked with Kate Kingston for the past seven years. “We’re high-end residential specialists,” she explains, “and we also design corporate spaces, offices, showhomes and hotels… we have a wide spectrum of clients.” I’m intrigued. High-end residential specialists? “So, I’m guessing you’ve worked for the odd Premiership footballer then?” Annmarie tells me client confidentially means that, even if they had worked for the odd centre midfielder, they wouldn’t tell me. And she’s giving nothing away.
Founder Kate Kingston, originally from Heswell, learnt her trade on America’s West Coast before setting up her business back home on the Wirral. Today she is en route to their Dubai office. Their work is well respected internationally, having been featured amongst the ‘big boys’ of interior design in the industry bible Andrew Martin Interior Design Review. Locally Kate has been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2012 Merseyside Women of the Year Awards. I can see the connections Kate has to this area and I hear of her ambition to put the glamour back into Birkenhead, but why here exactly, cheek by jowl with some of her more industrial neighbours? “The type of work we do means we have all kinds of different suppliers on our books,” explains Annmarie. “We’re always looking for people to create bespoke pieces for us and this area has such as wealth of craftsmanship we can call upon. Within walking distance there are ironmongers, upholsterers, architects, powder coaters, we’ve even used a local rubber flooring company. “Sometimes our requests can be quite specific or unusual and our local companies are really quite flexible, often more helpful than larger companies.”
From the left: Annmarie Lea, Rebecca Campbell, Sarah Barnicle and Sharon McIvor 12
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friends of wirral council dog kennels
A great band of volunteers It’s been tough times for the kennels. They might easily have gone the way of many other council services, leaving no dog warden for this area and the kennels’ tenants transferred to Heswell on the other side of the peninsula.
“We’ve got a great band of volunteers,” says Antje Tucker, the founding chair and trustee of the Friends, “which means we can take the dogs for walks, which never happened before. Now they sleep better; they’re calmer and local people get to see them.”
Not good enough, cried the town’s dog lovers – too many stray dogs would never have been returned to their owners.
“We’re always on the look out for new volunteers – people who are passionate about dogs – but not everyone can cope with it. Sometimes dogs have to be destroyed and that’s difficult after we’ve got to know them.
Step up the Friends’ Group. Well, actually the Friends of Birkenhead Council Kennels had already stepped up and were busy fundraising with an eye on moving to more appropriate accommodation. But now there were more pressing issues. Faced with the immediate proposition of closure, the Friends started a petition to save the kennels. They got embroiled in some local politics they could have done without and have now reached agreement where the Council will continue to own the kennels, but the Friends will run it voluntarily. It’s a gradual process. They are now cleaning kennels and walking dogs, getting to know the procedures and preparing for yet another gear change which will see them take over the kennels in 2015.
“They come in as strays and the legal requirement is for us to keep them for seven days after which we try and find them homes. But if they’re hugely aggressive, we can’t do that… we don’t want another statistic.” I wonder whether Antje has noticed all the trees. “What do you think?” I ask. “I think it’s marvelous and I hope they don’t get destroyed because it’s important that trees get planted again. It looks better and of course it’s better for the environment.” “And for the dogs to cock their legs?” I say, cheekily. “That as well.”
Antje Tucker, centre, with dog-walking volunteers Trees • Work
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ips marine fabrications ltd
Keeping the customers happy I’ve been hearing a lot of this type of story over the past few months and, I suppose, it’s fairly typical of large-scale deindustrialisation.
“We could see what was about to happen,” recalls director Paul, “and we knew there would still be a market for what we could provide.”
It goes something like this: a very large company closes, ditching hundreds of highly-skilled experienced managers, engineers, draughtsmen, sales staff. Although the sector may be struggling the company’s customers haven’t disappeared overnight and so the redundant specialists set up smaller, leaner companies to fill the gap.
“And what do you provide?” I ask.
These phoenix-type businesses have been through the mill, are hungrier for business and have a keener eye for staying ahead. One such is IPS Marine Fabrications on Marcus Street. Paul Smith and Peter Hillan were manager and foreman at Cammel Laird when the shipbuilder’s owners went into receivership.
The company description trips off his tongue: “A service that corporates all aspects of insulation: marine, thermal, structural fire protection, acoustic and cryogenic. “Initially we were doing light sheet metal fabrication,” continues Paul, “and now we’ve gone into heavier sheet metal fabrication, aluminium welding, stainless steel welding, that sort of thing. “We’re small enough to be adaptable to what our customers need,” he says, telling me that they have recently invested in new machinery and training in ‘drawn arc welding’ which meant they picked up contracts on a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and on the Astute submarine in Barrow.
Director Peter Hillan with IPS colleagues 14
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Their old company was subsequently bought by Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders who have now gone full circle and renamed itself Cammel Laird, such is the worldwide recognition of the brand. “We’ve often got 25-30 lads working down there,” he says, pointing his thumb in the direction of the dock, “and they are all skilled, all local. They’re by far our biggest customer and their chairman, John Syvret, has always supported local splinter companies. But they are growing too and we know that if we don’t invest and move with them, we’ll lose them.” “It’s still a battle, you’ve got to keep your foot on the gas and your customers happy.”
heap and partners ltd
Steeped in history It’s nearly 150 years since William Heap set up his own company over the water in Liverpool in 1866. He had gone it alone after working for one of the greatest and, as it turned out, wealthiest Victorian civil engineering contractors, Thomas Brassey. By the end of his frenetic career, it was said that Brassey had built a third of all British railways and one mile in every 20 throughout the world, all from Birkenhead. As Brassey’s chief bridge builder, Heap worked on his biggest contract, the building of the Grand Truck Railway of Canada. This 539-mile line from Quebec to Toronto included the Robert Stephensondesigned Victoria Bridge, the longest bridge in the world at the time. The contract required the construction of a new production facility and the nineacre Canada Works was built alongside West Float, ideally placed for ocean-going ships. The works was capable of producing 40 locomotives a year, as well as all the track and bridge components. It is said that Victoria Bridge itself contained over 10,000 iron pieces held together with half a million rivets, all manufactured here and shipped across the Atlantic.
Steve Atkinson
Next is Steve Atkinson, a design engineer doing something technical with a very large valve. “It’s the biggest we’ve ever made,” he says, “and we’re about to send it off to be burnt.” Apparently all new models have to undergo a fire test and so this valve will be subjected to 800 degrees C before another is assembled and sent off to the North Sea. After a few more portraits and, dragging myself from the photogenic machine room with all its specialist technology, I sit in front of managing director, David Millar and ask him about trees. “When customers come to visit us we can justifiably be very proud of our business and of our site but the area isn’t very impressive, is it? It’s not very green and so every effort to improve the area is very welcome. “Greenery is just the start and it’s an important step in regenerating the area. It worked for Liverpool back in the 80s when they started planting trees. People start taking pride in their area.”
The modern day Heap and Partners have called their factory Canada Works as a nod to their industrial inheritance and once inside I start by photographing the apprentices. There are five in this company, which is good going I would say, except one is off today. I arrange Jake, Stephen, Rhys and Adam on a couple of trolleys and they strike a pose that could easily be for their next album cover.
Greenery is just the start and it’s an important step in regenerating the area.
Managing Director, David Millar with office staff from Heap and Partners
Ray Martin Trees • Work
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heap and partners ltd Jake Wingfield, Stephen Hobbs, Rhys Brownbill, Adam Jones 16
Trees • Work
Trees • Work
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carcraft
The Battle of Monte Cassino Pawel doesn’t need much persuading. He’s well up for having his picture taken and I’ve already spotted the shiny metallic chassis I’d like to photograph him with. As I’m setting up, Ben takes my tape recorder and asks some questions. Even before my tripod legs are spread open Pawel is telling Ben about his grandfather and how, as a young man, he fought in the WW2 Battle of Monte Cassino. Practically 70 years ago to the day his grandfather was on an Italian hillside with a quarter of a million Allied troops. “He was a soldier,” says Pawel in his distinctive accent, “a soldier at Monte Cassino.” Unfamiliar to me, the battle for the Catholic cathedral, set upon the 520-metre craggy Monte Cassino was strategically significant and quickly passed into Polish military folklore. There’s even a song about it. The battle (which was, in fact, four battles over several months), involved British, American and Commonwealth troops as well as Poles and the French. At the beginning of the prolonged assault the Allies made a controversial decision to bomb the supposedly neutral abbey and 1,150 tons of explosives rained down from nearly 200 aircraft. Bizarrely the bombing proved counter-productive as German paratroopers took up positions in the ruins finding the fallen masonry easier to defend. After a staggering 75,000 casualties from both sides it was the Poles who were the first to walk into what was left of the abbey to capture the remaining German soldiers. Paul has been running his bodyshop here for the last eight years. He’s good with his hands, having been a sheet metal worker and a woodworker before restoring antique and classic cars. There’s a picture of the Bristol 405 pinned on a noticeboard. My knowledge of classic British car marques is as comprehensive as my military history and so I subsequently do some web research and get excited by a possible connection between Paul’s grandfather up an Italian mountainside and the drophead coupé he is now working on. Bristol Cars, its website tells me, grew out of Bristol Aeroplane Company who made planes for both the World Wars. Perhaps the company that built this drophead coupé back in the 1950s also built the bombers that annihilated the abbey a few years earlier. Ah, but it would have been all too coincidental, all too neat. Apparently it was, in fact, the Americans with their heavy duty Boeings that wreaked havoc, the Bristol Beaufighters and Brigands were kept for medium range sorteés. Nice try. I’m ready for Pawel now and ask him to wriggle up inside the empty engine cavity.
Pawel Wezyk 18
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car and classic
Restoring a classic “How long have you been restoring cars?” I ask. Robbie blows his cheeks out. “Since I was eight,” he says. “My dad was a panel beater and had his own little garage, so he got me going.” “And what is it about cars? What do you find so fascinating?” “It’s that idea of getting something that’s been given up as scrap and rebuilding it so it’s better than when it was new.” For the past two and a half years Robbie has specialised in restoring the classic Bristol Cars marque, a company that, at the end of the Second World War, morphed out of the Bristol Aeroplane Company to provide employment for its redundant workforce. “I got into Bristols by mistake,” he laughs. “The first one I bought was going cheap and I thought I’d give it a go.” There are a couple of cars in his Corporation Road garage and a couple more in a store round the back. Paul from Car Craft down the road is working on a drophead coupé for Robbie which, when complete, will help restore a fluctuating cash flow. “That one is already sold,” says Robbie, nodding across the workshop. “The drophead coupés are very rare, there are only about 20 left in the world.”
Robbie Hughes Trees • Work
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birkenhead powder coatings
More dust, more business Everything in Craig’s office is coated in dust. I guess it’s an occupational hazard, theirs being a powder coating company. It covers the copier, phone, printer and chairs. He’s long tired of resisting its relentless advance, now only giving the screen a cursory wipe so at least he can make out the Windows logo. I guess more dust means they’re doing more business.
Craig Glenn
I start by asking how long their company has been going. “About 18 years,” says Craig from his dusty chair. “You don’t look old enough,” I say. “I was about 18 or 19 when I started.” He originally worked as a fabricator for an engineering company on this site but, when his boss wanted to sell up, he took part of the building and began powder coating. “And how’s it gone over the years?” “Every year we’ve done more business,” he says proudly, “and we’ve expanded during the recession, so that’s not bad.” As well as conveyor systems and roller shutters for industrial clients, Craig and his business partner have bought another unit – fitted with car ramps – around the corner where they powder coat the wheel trims of expensive cars. It’s a new departure but is already going well. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve been asked to powder coat?” “We’ve currently got a giraffe somewhere.” “A giraffe?” “A giraffe statue for a local artist.” Craig’s in a hurry so I finish our little interview by asking about the area and how the trees are helping to green the whole place. “It’s got better around here over the years,” says Craig. “They knocked down a lot of houses and certainly over the last couple of years it’s improved.” “It’s coming up again?” “Oh yeah.” “And what about Wirral Waters? Will that make a difference for you? “It’ll be good for some companies round here but I don’t think it will do a lot for us. It will obviously make a definite improvement to the area.”
Steve McGuire, left and Jonathan Davis 20
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happy al ’ s coaches
Everyone’s Happy at Happy Al’s Al started with two minibuses from outside his Birkenhead home until he took over an old stables in New Brighton. From there his expanding bus company moved into the old Whitbread brewery on Livingstone Street before coming to this sprawling site on Corporation Road. He’s not about when I come back to take the pictures. I’m given a yellow hi-vis slip-on and the run of the place and, as I’m taking some portraits of Al’s staff, I’m determined to find out if everyone really is happy here. Out in the yard, with my camera round my neck, I’m mistaken for someone else. “We thought you were a bus spotter,” says one of the drivers. I must have looked confused. “You know, like a train spotter. We get them all the time, just wandering in.” This is Pete, Paul, Dave and Barrie, taking a break after refueling all the buses. I’m drawn into a light-hearted discussion about the merits of bus-spotting. “They know everything there is to know about these buses: who built them, painted them, what routes they were originally on. They’re mines of useless information!”
From the left: Pete, Paul, Dave and Barrie (standing)
Now they know I’m no bus spotter I explain what I’m up to: “You’ll have noticed all these trees being planted,” – nods of approval – “by The Mersey Forest. Well, I’ve been commissioned to take portraits of lots of local businesses as a sort of collaboration between Mersey Forest and the community they are serving. We’ll put an exhibition together which will be a celebration of Birkenhead business.” A tanoy from the middle of the yard cackles: “Will Stevie G please come to the office.”
“Stevie G?” I repeat with mock bewilderment. “Oh yeah, didn’t they tell you? He works part-time. He’s doing a bit more now the season’s over. Drives the 653 up to Heswell.” Everyone creases up. “So, is it true? Is everyone happy at Happy Al’s?” “I’d say you get exactly what it says on the tin,” says Pete. “Or the side of the bus?” I suggest. The drivers explain that compared to service work – driving public transport buses on regular routes – doing contract work and coach tours is much more varied. Last week I took a school group to Alton Towers, says Pete. “I spent the day on Nemesis and Oblivion. Brilliant. You wouldn’t get that driving a Arriva 411 to New Brighton.” “On service work you do shifts and might end up in the seat for nine hours at a stretch. You build up quite a nasty arrogant attitude to passengers when you do service work. “But what about schoolkids? Don’t all bus drivers hate doing the school runs?” “I’m much rather have schoolkids on my bus any day of the week than normal passengers. No contest.” Turns out all these drivers have worked on the regular bus routes for the larger companies. “There’s a camaraderie here, everyone looks out for each other. It’s a family business, isn’t it? So they’re really good to work for.” “Everyone’s happy then?” “99% extremely happy. Yes.”
In the workshop, from the left: John, Nathan, Kenny, Peter (kneeling), Danny, Jeff and Alan Trees • Work
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james derby salvage
“Everything has changed in this business” Everyone’s busy and it’s a challenge to get James Jnr and the rest of his staff in one place for long enough to take their picture. But it eventually happens and, as the rest disperse, James and I retire to the office at the front of the salvage yard. “As a family business we’ve been going for over 30 years,” he says when I ask for some background. “We had the old council site at the top,” he points up Corporation Road, “and we had a shop on Borough Road, another scrap yard further up and we’ve got the MOT station opposite.” “And this site?” I ask. “How long have you been here?” “We’ve only been on this site for the last 16 years. We took it over from Campbells who had run a salvage yard here since the 50s.” James has been a director of the family business for nearly four years now but recalls spending school holidays around the place when he was younger. “I practically grew up here,” he says as his dad walks back into the office. “James has been telling me about the history of the business,” I say, “You must have seen a lot of changes over the years.” “Oh yes, everything has changed in this business,” says James Snr. “We used to source all our cars locally back then and our customers would walk through the gate. Now, we buy cars nationwide and about 70% of our business is mail order.” As if to contradict him, a customer pokes his head through the hatch, “You know that Rover you’ve got on the rack? If the back plates are any good, I’ll take ’em off you.” “Nowadays, most people drive cars that are less then three years old,” James continues, after his son sets off into the yard with the customer. “No one is repairing cars as they get older, they’re just scrapping them, so there’s less demand in scrap yards for older cars.” “So presumably the most lucrative cars are newer models that have been in accidents rather than something that has come to the end of its natural life?” I ask. “Absolutely, accident damaged cars. And they cost us a lot of money which is why everything is on racks nowadays and not piled on top of each other. You can keep all the doors, windscreens and windows in better condition if you haven’t got people walking all over them.” “And tell me something about this area, James,” I say, “It’s clearly been a good area for you over the years.” “There are quite a few dismantling sites around us which is good because people looking for parts will come here because they can try four or five different places. If we were out in the sticks somewhere we wouldn’t get a lot of custom.”
James Derby Jnr with Wayne, Antony, Hill and Stewart 22
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arc community transport
The deflated tyre Janine is the only one left. All the other drivers have left for the morning. They’ll be back after lunch to take their six buses out again, picking up vulnerable adults and children from autistic centres around the Wirral. “It varies,” says Janine, when I ask how many she takes on her bus. “This morning I had twelve passengers, three of them in wheelchairs.” “You must get to know them pretty well, picking them up and taking them home each day?” “Oh yes, it’s lovely, really rewarding. I try to make it a happy bus, put the music on, have a joke and a laugh. We’re always having a giggle.”
Allan Lacey
Their two-storey building is directly opposite a cleared dockside site. “The first building, the International Trade Centre, is going right opposite,” says Allan, who not only runs the community transport business but is also general manager of this small industrial estate. “Then Vauxhall are taking part of the top for a component centre. The whole area will take a lift because it’s about dovetailing it all together, so it all fits and gradually builds into something new for this part of town.”
“Is there a strong sense of pride in the area?” Ben asks. “Not really,” says Allan. “But there’s potential. I imagine it like a tyre. The tyre is still there but it’s been flattened, deflated. In my opinion it just needs pumping up again, then we can move forward. That’s how I see it.” “And do you think the tree planting will have benefits?” asks Ben. “Ah yes. It’s all to do with making the place more presentable, more marketable,” says Allan. “We’re just all waiting for construction to start and that will provide the kickstart we need. And the green aspect really helps. Can you imagine, there will be a wonderful green boulevard all the way into Hamilton Square.”
Janine Mouarkach Trees • Work
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kgb musical instruments
A 30-year history The tramlines that lead through their car park suggest the Pacific Road Arts Centre has something of a history. Giving me the guided tour, Alan says this place was, up until about three years ago, a thriving theatre and host to live music events, on the tour circuit of well-known rock bands. “The tour buses would roll up and the musicians would make a beeline for our shop, blown away that there was a guitar technician on site who could immediately sort out any problems they were having.” “And now you share the place with three trams,” I say. “And an old bus,” he adds. The centre has become a victim of council cuts and all resources (apart from the trams and bus) been consolidated and relocated to the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton. It is however, due for a new lease of life from the autumn when Wirrall Chamber of Commerce take it on.
“So you’ll have neighbours again?” “Yes, we’ll have neighbours again.” KGB Guitars were originally invited to set up business here 11 years ago but have had a number of homes since Keith Bennion founded the business back in 1984. In their 30-year history they’ve counted The Searchers, The La’s, Lightning Seeds, Echo and the Bunnymen and Midge Ure amongst their customers. “We’re makers and repairers,” explains Alan, “so we do anything from a single string to a complete custom made guitar and we work for musicians all over the world. Often we’re working for people we haven’t even met.” “And what are you doing just now?” I ask, nodding at the instrument on his workbench. “This guitar is a 1972 Gibson SG which I have re-fretted. So it’s a couple of years older than me. And it’s good to go for another 42 years.”
“It’ll be somewhere to start new businesses,” says Alan.
Barrie Holt, Keith Bennion and Alan Norris 24
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wirral metropolitan college
New Skills The forecast is not good. The rain is due at any moment and, according to my weather app, it will be relentless for the rest of the afternoon. So, as soon as I arrive at Edward Kemp Gardens adjacent to Birkenhead Park, I quickly run a cable from the cabin and set up my light amongst the young fruit trees.
“I didn’t think I’d get it and was stunned, and really pleased, to get a place. Now, being outside nearly all the time, it’s really hard to imagine working inside again.”
“It can make you self sufficient,” says Lucy. “Once you’ve finished the course, you don’t have to work for someone else, you can work for yourself.”
“And Rob, why were you attracted to this?”
Not everyone is up for having their picture taken but with a bit of encouragement and a fair bit of banter between themselves, seven of the Horticulture Level 2 apprentices congregate under the grey clouds.
“And have you learnt new skills?”
Which is a good thing because apparently the Council are maybe unable to take on any of this cohort when they complete their training. Another potential casualty of ‘the cuts’.
“If you were to see all the folders we have, there’s a lot to take in. I’ve learnt plenty of things I didn’t know. There’s a lot about using equipment safely, then there’s plant identification, soil sampling, it’s very involved.”
Perhaps, in the not too distant future, some of these emerging horticulturists might even be seen on the streets of Birkenhead planting more trees for The Mersey Forest. Now that would complete the circle nicely.
“So there’s more to horticulture than some people might imagine?”
“Okay, thanks,” I say as the first raindrops hit my studio light, “good luck with it all.”
After the picture I throw out an opener: “So, you’re all at Wirral Met?” “We’re doing our apprenticeships with the Council in partnership with the Met,” answers Lucy. “Why did you, yourself come on this course?” “It’s quite a funny story,” begins Lucy. “I’ve worked at the Council for some time and my postroom job last year was at risk, so I thought I would apply for this. I liked the idea of getting out of the office into the open air.
“I wanted to work outdoors,” he says, “to meet people and to learn new skills.”
“Definitely.” “And what were you doing before?” “I’ve been made redundant three times over the last ten years, either doing shop or factory work. This is a fresh opportunity for doing something else, that was the key for me.”
Front row from left: Lucy Rhodes, Cheryl Harvey and Paul Hallet. Back from the left: Rob Thomas, Lewis Mayles and Mark Nockes Trees • Work
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survitec plc
The life-savers of Beaufort Road She has a rectangle of olive green material in the grip of her sewing machine: “So this little bit you’re sewing now, what’s that for?” I ask. “It’s part of the trim for an anti-G force suit,” she says, “I can show you the whole suit if you’d like.” “No, no, that’s fine,” I say, seeing she has several dozen more trims waiting for her attention. Survitec makes survival equipment for the marine, defence and aerospace industries and its predecessor, RDF Beaufort has been on this Birkenhead site since 1952. Indeed the Beaufort Road is named after the original company, established in 1854, who started out making inflatable life rafts. The shop floor is bursting with hi-vis oranges and yellows and the air is thick with the smell of rubber and heavy duty adhesives. With the busy workbenches and rails full of brightly-coloured suits, it’s a photographer’s dream. Given the chance, I could stay all day.
James Hayes 26
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This is clearly important work and I genuinely get the feeling that the machinists, assemblers and testers know that the work they do today can save a life somewhere – anywhere – in the world. I later read press reports of sea rescues where a helicopter ditches and all passengers – wearing survival suits made here – are plucked from icy waters unharmed. That must do wonders for staff morale. As we keep between the red-painted walkway we meet Nick Mulhall, Survitec’s Managing Director. He is aware and enthusiastic about the tree planting programme. He explains that the site regularly has high profile customers and global colleagues visiting and any improvement to the surrounding industrial landscape is extremely welcome.
Jane Cain
Karl Jordan
Marie Short Trees • Work
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skyline signs
“The whole industry has changed” Their workshop reminds me of the many artists’ studios I’ve photographed: the halfused cans of paint, the works-in-progress, and Radio Four blathering away in the background. “Originally the business was split,” recalls Ted, as he explains how he and his business partner set up 25 years ago. “Geoff was the screen printer and I would do all the signwriting. But the whole industry has changed now. With digital plotters the hand written work just died away. I don’t do any brushwork now. In fact, I haven’t had a brush in my hand for the past 10 years.” “Do you miss that?” I ask. “Oh no, it’s much slower,” says Ted. “Although it is having a bit of a comeback and I was thinking about putting it on our website as another service we can offer. “Although I wouldn’t want to be getting up scaffolding and start painting away at some shop front. But if we did it in the workshop, here on the bench, then I wouldn’t mind doing it.” “So what’s your background? Did you do art at college?” “No, I left school at 15 and got an apprenticeship doing signwriting. That was mostly guided practice and we would spend hours and hours just practicing making the letters. I remember spending two weeks just doing o’s and s’s, just getting used to twirling the brush in your fingers. “In those days the big work was for cinemas. They’d want multiple signs for the same film and so the signwriter would do the first one and then pass it onto the apprentice who would trace over it and repeat it.” “That seems so archaic now, doesn’t it?” “But that’s how it was, and not so long ago.” “And this project I’m doing is about the trees. Do you think they make a difference?” “Trees always make a difference: they make the place look nicer, they’re good for the environment, it’s another living thing,” says Ted. “And along the roadside they’re supposed to absorb exhaust fumes – I don’t know whether there’s any truth in that – but certainly there doesn’t seem to be anything bad associated with trees. I’m happy to see them going in.”
Ted Bullen 28
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Trees always make a difference: they make the place look nicer, they’re good for the environment, it’s another living thing ... and along the roadside they’re supposed to absorb exhaust fumes ... I’m happy to see them going in.
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More from Trees Planting a tree is a demonstration of faith in the future as well as a gift to those who follow us. The 1,000 trees planted by The Mersey Forest in Birkenhead since 2012 make a bold statement about hopes for the future of the town: a town on the cusp of change. As our ‘More from Trees’ strap line suggests, there is much more to our work than simply planting trees for their own sake, important though this may be. As well as making a more pleasant business environment we are confident that our tree planting programme will contribute to increased investment in the area, and ultimately more jobs. On a practical level, the new trees will help everyone to adapt to climate change by shading, cooling the air, filtering out pollutants and intercepting rainfall. As the physical landscape improves, people will be encouraged to walk and cycle more, with all the lifestyle and environmental benefits which that brings. Indeed our work in residential areas linking Birkenhead Park, Ilchester Park and Bidston Moss to the docklands development area has already brought communities together to enjoy and celebrate their improved surroundings. People respond well to trees. Len Grant’s Trees • Work exhibition has given us at The Mersey Forest the opportunity to get to know some of the local business community; to hear their feedback on our tree planting programme, and has allowed us to showcase the diversity of businesses across Birkenhead. We would like to thank the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; the Forestry Commission and the EU Interreg IVb ForestClim programme for their support, not just for this exhibition but for the work programme and the tree planting. Ben Greenaway Green Streets Coordinator If you would like to support the work of The Mersey Forest you can find out more from our website or by contacting us directly. www.merseyforest.org.uk 01925 859604 mail@merseyforest.org.uk @merseyforest
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Photo © Carl Smethurst
Can you imagine, there will be a wonderful green boulevard all the way into Hamilton Square. Portraits and interviews: Len Grant www.lengrant.co.uk Exhibition and newspaper design: Alan Ward www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk Exhibition prints: William Chitham www.black-door.co.uk Newspaper print: Mortons Cover: james derby salvage Back cover: survitec plc Len Grant would like to thank all those who kindly participated in the Trees • Work project and all at The Williamson Art Gallery & Museum for their generosity and support.
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