Chris Betts, 44, from Walsall, was made redundant when LDV van makers closed the doors of their Birmingham factory in June 2009 and moved their operations to China. 2,000 people working for LDV’s suppliers also lost their jobs.
Chris spent most of his working life – 27 years – as an engineer in automotive manufacturing. This redundancy was his second time round, having been made redundant by Daf back in 1993.
Chris, who is married with children aged 16 and 12 years old, went on an intensive course to learn plastering through the North Staffordshire Workforce Development Programme run by trade union UNITY through the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP).
The programme gave immediate and specific support to people facing redundancy in North Staffordshire, including funding free skills courses. Advantage West Midlands (AWM) contributed nearly £1.5million in funding and the programme was so successful it was run across the region by Unity under the name Better West Midlands.
Chris said: ”This time it didn’t come as such a shock to me as it did most people because I had been made redundant by Daf before. But it was still a blow.
“I had done DIY all my life and was good at tiling so, when the leaflet offering courses came around as we collected our redundancy papers, I decided to do plastering to compliment that.
“Before I started the course, if you had asked me to plaster a ceiling, 95 per cent of it would have ended up on the floor. The course was very good. In fact, I am now thinking of doing the joinery one to get my papers.”
Chris was lucky enough to pick up a day’s work here and there through a friend but has now set up his own business – CB Homestyles – and has not looked back. “I’ve been turning my hand to anything and everything,” said Chris. “It’s certainly very different from engineering. Every day is different and, so far, still interesting.”
