Industry
“By looking at some other models on the market, both cricket and road rollers, I realised that they were fairly straightforward to manufacture, and just about within our capabilities”
during World War II did nothing other than remove some stonework halfway up. It was the storms of the late eighties that eventually reduced its stature, a lightning strike removing the top third. “I live just two miles away and I heard the strike that brought it down. It was around six o’clock in the morning and was like a bomb going off,” recalls Trevor. “God knows what the chap living in the caravan in the neighbouring field thought though!” Fortunately, no one was injured, and
years and then, in 1992, by a stroke of luck - as you do - picked up the contract to make scrum machines for locally based Rhino Rugby, which meant that we had to branch out into fabrication. That proved to be a turning point.” Fortunately, the new work was not too much of a departure from previous experience, as Trevor’s father had, for twenty-three years, operated a manufacturing business from the same industrial estate, supplying farmers in the locality with galvanised steel farm
“By looking at some other models on the market, both cricket and road rollers, I realised that they were fairly straightforward to manufacture, and just about within our capabilities. One thing that I incorporated into the design, right from the outset, was hydraulic drive, as it was clear that some of the existing models were very awkward to operate.” “I remember going to a Business Link meeting in the early days of Poweroll, where I was told that a manufacturing company like ours had no chance of
Arsenic and old buildings
the chimney now stands as a reminder of the industrial past of the site, whilst the stone buildings have new roofs, and purpose built offices have been added to accommodate the requirements of a modern business. Here, a glass cabinet displays a range of precision tooled components charting the company’s history.
As we sit in Trevor’s new office, we are joined by Shirley, who has removed her overalls, to chart how the couple came to be making cricket rollers in rural Cornwall and, I suspect, to ensure that ‘Trevor gets it right’! “We continued to manufacture
precision components for the next five
gates and other fabricated equipment used by them, throughout the 1960s and 70s. Trevor learnt some of his metal fabrication skills during this period, working for his father during school holidays and on Saturdays. With fabrication now part of the company’s services, and the company name changed to Power Precision and Fabrication Ltd., Trevor heard, on the grapevine, that Callington Cricket Club had recently purchased a new roller. “I had no real idea what I was getting into, but thought the machine they had purchased seemed archaic and might be a product that we could investigate with a potential to manufacture ourselves!”
going it alone making products for the grass care industry and would have to market rollers through a major manufacturer,” recalls Trevor. In 1997, Trevor delivered his first ever
roller to a cricket club in Yorkshire. “In 1998, we doubled our sales,” says Trevor, with a wry smile. “In ’99, we sold five machines and, in 2000, sales ‘soared’ into double figures.”
During this period, the company continued to manufacture the precision engineered items and the scrum machines, and all of it on the back of little or no promotion. “I’ve got no marketing skills, basically, I am just a machinist,” says Trevor in his soft
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