Award-winning Wigan firm’s reach is extended

Reach and Rescue’s new manufacturing facility is six times bigger than its original, allowing them to produce a larger amount of their award-winning telescopic poles, which are sold across the globe and used by the likes of fire and rescue services and the RSPCA, and are installed at open water areas across the UK.

Stuart Glover, marketing officer at the Marus Bridge firm, said: “Our new premises are at the same building, just a bit further up, which has eased the move from one facility to another and transporting everything only 100m up the way.

“It’s six times larger than the facility we had, and is 178m sq.

“It enables us to streamline the whole manufacturing process.

“We now have dedicated areas for different elements of the manufacturing process.

“It enables us to make a lot more poles in a lot less time.

“It’s going to allow us to grow into the international company that we aspire to be.”

He added: “It’s been quite a while in coming. The process of moving took about six weeks, from acquiring the premises and transforming it into the facility, then moving over there.

“Everything is going great. The company will soon be moving entirely to the new building, with dedicated office spaces etc.”

The firm is also anticipating the need to hire a crop of more employees in the near future as their expansion plans progress.

“I think we’re always going to be on the look-out now,” said Mr Glover.

“Demand is always really high, which is great. And we might unexpectedly get a huge order in from abroad, so there’ll be times when it will be quite common for us to acquire new staff all the time.”

Reach and Rescue’s throwline boards have been put in place at open water areas across Lancashire and Greater Manchester, with each one dedicated to someone who has lost their life to the water.

The boards contain key life-saving advice as well as accurate location details in the event that 999 services need to be contacted. They also contain a locked canister, accessible by a code given to the caller by fire control room operators, containing a whistle and line which gives people a means of assisting someone in trouble without risking entering the water themselves.