Imagine being sat in a very crowded portacabin on a damp January day; midday in fact, waiting for a brief from an engineering director telling around 40 men that the job they’d worked at for 30 plus years was going to end this year (2009). That was my very surreal fate.
 
I’d been involved in various types of welding processes since being a ‘very naive’ 8 year old and now at 50 was facing the prospect that so many of my predecessors had faced over the years since 1986. The Company wasn’t sure when it would close only that it would be this year. I had a choice, I could stay and perform a very mundane job until that ended or leave and have a change, and I opted for a change!

June the 5th was the day I finished. I had been thinking for some time about what I might do; Teaching Assistant was high on my priorities. So I had a chat with my local Headmistress, who was brilliant. She pointed me in the direction of a local college, who pointed me in the direction of a diagnostic test. My emissions were a bit high, no seriously because I’d worked in industry for so long and had been switched off at school Maths and English were a must.

An acquaintance of mine suggested a phone call to Hatfield Learning Centre, "talk to the girls" he said, and so I did. The great thing about Learndirect is you don’t have to wait for a new term or new school year to begin. Within a few weeks of finishing work a Level 2 Numeracy course and an ECDL computer course were enrolled on.

The staff were extremely helpful. Any assistance I needed, just give us a call or e-mail no problems. After enrolling on these courses I also enrolled on Literacy and a Teaching

Assistants qualification. I worked at my own pace, fitting an hour or two here a there. By early October I was ready to take my City and Guilds test. The staff at Hatfield had given me several mock papers to make sure I was more than well equipped to take the exam.

With both Literacy and Numeracy qualifications under my belt, my ECDL computer course and Teaching Assistant qualification well on their way my future prospects are looking much rosier.

Just to say a very big thank you to Ellen, Jane, Sandra and Scott for all their help, from a redundant steelworker with a very positive outlook.