Christine celebrates a 40-year milestone at Transpower

1985. The Miner’s Strike came to an end, and two British institutions – BHS and Habitat – merged, while Blockbuster opened its first store. Mikhail Gorbachev become the leader of the USSR and Ronald Reagan started his second term as US president. Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘hand of God goal was still a year away. Jump suits and Hawaiian shirts were all the rage – as were (strangely) fingerless gloves.

On July 15th, 1985 – just two days after the famous Live Aid concert at Wembley & Philadelphia - 16-year-old Christine Davenport started work at Archer Security in Hyde. There’s been a few name changes since – both for the company and for Christine, who met her husband at work and became Christine Corbett – but incredibly she recently celebrated 40 years’ service at what is now Transpower Engineering.

“My dad had previously worked at the company, building large panels, as a sub-contractor”, said Christine. “He had a great relationship with the boss, Alan Fletcher, and at the time my sister Kaye had already been working there for two years.

“Kaye worked as an assembler, and she advised me to go to the unit – which was in John Street in Hyde – and speak to Alan. This was supposed to be just a chat – but at the end he asked me when I could start, and I started work the very next working day.

“I remember clocking in and having to wait nervously for Alan’s wife to arrive one site, as she was my mentor for a week and was tasked with showing me the ropes.”

Archer Security had three different firms operating out of the same building – upstairs they made fire alarms and downstairs DC Emergency made emergency lighting. Also located downstairs was a transformer manufacturer, and Christine started there.

“God knows how they fitted us in the room, it was only a small building, and we shared the downstairs with DC Emergency. There were six ladies working on the transformer side of the business and one bloke doing winding for larger transformers.

“I knew nothing about transformers. Not a sausage. Never knew they existed, what they were used for, or how to make one. In the first week, I started on the winding machine, manufacturing small panel-mounted transformers – it as a on a machine that had a program built it and it was much faster other machines – it was horrible.

“But after a successful first week, I moved on to another machine – which was manual. You had to operate this by foot, to stop at every tap – we called this blues and greys (blue, primary 0.16, and grey, secondary 0.6). I was responsible for doing the primary coils on a 12VA transformer (which I would know as a 35 & ¾ D/S).

“As I was good at it, and they were all finished, they let me move into the Grey (secondary coils). But at the same time, with the wires being so thin on the primary coils, I kept snapping the wires – and I was convinced that I was going to get the boot.”

Forty years on, and Christine still works as a rewinder – although these days she also completes the whole transformer. And she also trains new staff – with her former ‘trainees’ including Dave Berry, the manager of Transpower Engineering.

“He picked up the job well” said Christine, “and listened to my advice. Thank God he listened to what I told him, or he would not be where he is today…”

Archer Security eventually sold the transformer business in 1991 to the CSM group – a company based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, who also owned Castlereagh Sheetmetal & Engineering Co Ltd, Uni-Trunk Cable Trunking Systems Ltd, Warmflow Engineering Co Ltd and Modern Machinery Supplies Ltd. CSM created a new division, and named it Transpower Engineering – a name which is still carried by the business.

CSM moved the company to a warehouse in Miles Platting (Manchester), where they shared with Uni-Trunk, and were, in Christine’s words, ‘shoved at the bottom’. They then moved Transpower Engineering for a second time – in order to allow Uni-Trunk to expand – and moved the company to a mill in Palatine Street in Denton.

“This new location on Palatine Street was difficult for me”, said Christine, “as it was on two floors, and it was challenging, especially moving around the larger transformers.”

The then manager Dave Downs eventually bought Transpower Engineering off CSM, and when he retired in 2008, he sold the business to Ceenorm. Under Ceenorm, the company outgrew the Denton site, moving to Audenshaw, where they are still based.

With four different owners, and four different premises, Christine has seen numerous colleagues come and go – and to some extent, it’s always been a family affair. Not only did her sister Kaye introduce her to the company (Kaye left seven years after Christine started), but she also met her husband, Paul Corbett, while at work in 1991.

“Nora, the cleaner, told me that Paul fancied me, and quizzed me about whether I would go on a date with him,” she said. “I said yes, and obviously he must have impressed me on that date, as we have been married for 13 years, and have two children.”

Incredibly one of those children – Christine’s daughter – also worked for Transpower Engineering for three years, and also met her husband there (without Nora’s help…)

Although there have been many, another colleague who stood out during her time at the company was Bridie Rowe, who Christine called a ‘mother figure and a good friend’

Christine loves to travel – and has been to numerous Europe destinations and Florida, loves sewing and ‘making things’ having a dance, and enjoys a pint. Having started as a 16-year, she now has seven grandchildren and is still there.

Asked the question, if you could go back 40 years and start again, would you make the same decision, she replied: “Yes, I really like what I do, and the people I work with.”

BHS and Habitat may no longer be familiar names on the high street. Blockbuster has long gone. Christine has managed to outlast them all – and is going nowhere…