Everyone is involved in computers, what happened to shipbuilders, steel making and other iron fighting trades that the North East was built on?
I left school in the summer of 1978 and started my apprenticeship in the September at Smith's Dock. Although I took my exams at school, I never went back to collect my exam results, I just wasn't interested. We completed four years at Longlands College and I passed all my City and Guilds with credits. I stayed at the Dock until it closed and then travelled with work to all major sites in the UK and a few abroad.
During my contracting days, I missed so much of my eldest son growing up that I decided to take a low paid job at Caterpillar so I could be at home when my youngest was born. During this time I had an accident at work and had to have two operations on my lower spine. I had been off work for two years recuperating and was advised not to return to welding and had to seek employment in another field.
You can imagine this shook me to the bone and I didn't know where to start looking or thinking what I could do. Previously, I had never been out of work longer than a few months when the Dock first closed and was taking badly to not working and being stuck inside all day. Looking back, I would say depression had started to set in.
In the Gazette, I saw an advert for a Youth Work course and went and enrolled in this. It was more to get me out and meet people again. I completed the course and was working a few hours for R & C council and decided I wanted something to back up the Youth Work. Redcar and Cleveland College had just delivered a flyer and was advertising an Introduction to Counselling Course. I again enrolled in this and excelled at it, with the course tutor pushing me to go on and on each year and finally pushing me to go to university where I completed my degree in Counselling.
Whilst at R & C College, I needed 40 hours counselling others to complete my course and volunteered for the Connexions Mentoring Service. I soon gained a good reputation with these and when they started the Kick Start Programme, I was offered a job with them and was still allowed to attend Uni and finally completing my degree in counselling. I progressed through Connexions Service, becoming an advisor working with young offenders and returned back to Uni completing a second degree.
I soon found out I didn't like the counselling side of the work and was more suited to working with young people and their families. I was going into schools in the East Clevland area to support the students I worked with and improved the attendance of the majority of students on my caseload.
It was during this time I was approached by a Head Teacher and asked if I would come in and speak to him about them setting up a Behavioural Unit in the school. One thing led to another and I spent 13 years heading up the unit until I took early retirement.
Edit: I meant to add, that if you told me in 1978 I would work in a school, I would have told you to go and get your bumps felt and I feel most of my teachers would have said the same.
.....that and it is complete gibberish.
