The History of Peak Trading Company
Peak Trading Company was founded in 1969 by Roy Birchley and was initially based in Sheffield, the heart of the British Steel Industry. Peak Trading Company has its origins in the United Kingdom's National Service when all young men aged over 18 were required to spend 2 years in one of the armed forces. Roy chose to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) for his compulsory National Service. Whilst there, he trained as a Telegraphist.
Upon completion of his National Service in 1955, Roy joined Derby & Co. in London, one the UK's oldest Ferro Alloys and Metals companies working as a Telegraphist. Over the next 8 years he worked in various different departments, eventually finding himself assigned to the Shipping Department where he would frequently travel to the docks in London and ports such as Sheerness and other places where he would inspect the various cargos.
Although most ships would arrive with their loads intact, occasionally during rough seas, the shuttering between different cargoes would give way. The Ferro Alloys would become mixed, rendering them contaminated and subject to an expensive insurance claim. One day, he conducted a simple "time and motion" experiment and realised it was possible to cost effectively separate the mixed materials, in effect salvaging most of the otherwise "written off" material and thereby saving considerable expense and loss of material.
Realising the potential to make a living and set up his own company, this is exactly what Roy did when the family re-located to Chesterfield just a few miles from Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District In 1969 he left Derby & Co. and formed Peak Trading Company, which re-located to Newark in Nottinghamshire in 1970, where we have remained ever since.
In 1997 Roy's youngest son Jared joined the company as a junior partner. After 36 years at the helm, Roy went into semi-retirement in 2005 and assumed a consultancy and supportive role for many years before he sadly passed away in January 2021 at the age of 85. More recently, Jared's eldest son Peter has joined the family business and is therefore the third generation of the family to work for Peak Trading Company.
Although the nature of our work has varied over the years, essentially we remain a Ferro Alloys and Metals company, specialising in handling mixed and contaminated Ferro Alloys and Metals. We look forward to many more years doing what we enjoy and using our skills to assist the Ferro Alloys, Metals and Warehousing communities.