At 52, with two redundancies behind him, Colin Williams would not have thought a colourful new career was on the horizon.
But Colin, from Bangor, is now hoping to set up his own business working with stained glass thanks to an employment project run by Coleg Harlech WEA.
The Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) project pays wages to unemployed people while they learn new skills,
He’s just about to complete placement with top stained glass maker Mike Lees, who’s based at Talwrn near Llangefni on Anglesey.
Father-of-two Colin, of Vaynol Park, Bangor, said: “It’s been very good for me, a very positive experience and helped focus my thinking on self-employment as the way forward for me.”
Colin left school as 16 and followed his father and uncle into the local cinema, training as a projectionist and then progressing into cinema management.
In more than 20 years he worked at the Plaza in Bangor and then the Paladium in Llandudno and for a while at Theatr Gwynedd. But in 1999 Colin was made redundant from full-time work and after a divorce, with a young son and daughter to look after a few days a week, he took up part-time employment.
“I went to work for the Celtest laboratories in Bangor, testing soil and concrete samples,” he said.
Colin re-married in 2007, but again found himself redundant in 2009. “It was then that I decided I must start to look at the possibility of self-employment.
“Initially I thought about my hobby of clock repairing and thought about that, but the investment in specialist equipment was prohibitive.”
Colin’s wife Carolyn, however, is a graphic designer and illustrator. “I thought about what we could do together and wondered about making decorative clocks.
“At that time I had also come across a book on stained glass and though that involved the right amount of technical work combined with the right amount of design work and it was not too expensive to start – a light bulb went off in my head!
“I looked through the book and decided it was not beyond my capabilities so I decided to look for a local course in stained glass and found Mike Lees did a course at a local community centre.
“I rang him up and he said to come round and I started the course at Menai Bridge last October.”
But then Colin was notified about the ILM scheme and he decided to apply for a place.
“I went for an interview at Coleg Harlech and a placement was agreed for me just before Christmas. I told them about my ideas and that I had already met Mike and thought that was an area where I would like my placement.”
On the ILM scheme participants spend three months on a placement working and training 35 hours a week with their wages paid for by the scheme.
“I spend time at the college doing IT and interview skills and then the rest of the week on placement. I’ve helped set up Mike’s evening classes and been to people’s houses with Mike and helped take damaged stained glass out of doors or windows which he repairs.
“I’ve also been attending a business course at Menter Môn which helps people develop business skills who want to set up in business themselves. I’m confident now I can set up my own stained glass business.
“I think I could do stained glass panels and small items for sale. Carolyn is a very good designer and very good at watercolour work so she could come up with the designs and I can make it,” said Colin.
Mike explained: “Colin started doing one of my evening classes and then went onto the ILM course and wanted a placement so I said ‘fine’.
“I used to teach but I had a series of black-outs and lost my job so I went back to college, at Wrexham, and did a degree in stained glass and graduated about 10 years ago.
“I love it, it’s been a second career for me and hopefully it might be for Colin as well. Sometimes when you’re made redundant you have to through commonsense out the window and started thinking out of the box. Colin has been great, really enthusiastic and has a great sense of humour too, which you need when you’re made redundant.”
Mike is setting up an exhibition of his work at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, and Colin is including a few of the pieces he has helped work on.
Mike, who has lived in North Wales more than 30 years, the last 12 in Anglesey, was invited to show some of his work at Ysbyty Gwynedd’s entrance foyer where they have ‘art in hospital’ displays.
Coleg Harlech Principal Trefor Fȏn Owen says the ILM project has been a fantastic opportunity for his staff to be able to support people who want to get back into the world of work.
“It is about giving people a chance and the opportunity to show they have potential and something to offer.”
Graham Benfield OBE, Chief Executive of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), said: ‘The Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) project is supporting around 1,500 economically inactive people into permanent jobs across North and East Wales, while boosting the skills and work-based qualifications of over 3,000 people in total. ‘Interventions like these are vital in the current climate’.
The Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) is a scheme funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and European Structural Funds (European Social Fund), and managed by WCVA, the umbrella body for the third sector in Wales.”
For more information go to: www.harlech.ac.uk
