Denny, 88, solves building mystery

A FORMER Widnes painter who used to risk his life working on the Transporter Bridge believes he knows the answer to a mystery West Bank building’s function.

Denis ‘ Denny’ Phillips, 88, now of Shropshire, said the unit housed a backup generator for the historic crossing, which conveyed passengers and vehicles across the River Mersey using a large mobile container.

Mr Phillips said he used to work on the bridge during the summer months in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when he would be handed a brush and some paint and set to work on the colossal structure, with no helmet and no harness.

The former painter, who returns every six or seven weeks to his hometown, where he remains a member of the bowling club, said he used to know ‘quite a few of the lads’ working on the Transporter.

Mr Phillips had read about the unknown building in an article in the Weekly News about a blue heritage plaque being fixed in place in Runcorn in honour of the bridge, which was demolished in the early 1960s after the opening of the Silver Jubilee Bridge in 1959.

He said that his varied working life spanned more than 40 jobs including in the Army.

Discussing the back-up generator, he said: “I think I’m the last fella to work on the Transporter and I can certainly clear this one up.

“It’s about the substation on the Widnes side, they thought it was a toll booth. “Actually it was a substation. “The Transporter had two kinds of electricity.

He added: “It had Mersey Power but they also had a line from West Bank power station, which is just the other side of the railway bridge on Parsonage Road and they had electricity from there and that building.”