The fourth of July is mostly remembered as the day the people of the USA celebrate Independence Day but it’s also the anniversary of the day, 45 years ago, that this business was saved from going bust by the intervention of the Evans family.
Brothers Alan & Brian Evans saved the sawmill from bankruptcy in 1978 when it employed over 120 people, all of them local. Had the mill gone, all of those jobs would have gone with it. On the face of it the purchase was a bargain: they paid £100, but as is now well known, along with the purchase came £1.5million of debts incurred by the previous owners. This was a huge sum in those days – but every penny of it was paid off over the following few years. By 1982 Alan and Brian were investing in the mill with the installation of what was then a state-of-the-art Swedish sawing line.
Further substantial investment has continued with over £25 million invested in recent years alone and we are now one of the most advanced and most respected sawmilling operations in the country. You can see how the mill looks now and how it looked just before the purchase in the pictures.
One final coincidence the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th July in 1776: a mere 100 years before the establishment of Charles Ransford & Son here in Bishop’s Castle!
The post The fourth of July: a story of independence, survival, and going from strength to strength first appeared on Charles Ransford & Son.