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"I seemed to hit the ground running and things went really well from the start"

Hi, my name is Jimmy Ryan I live in Littleton Co Tipperary. I was made redundant in March 2018 from our local Bord na Mona factory which left all 150 workers pondering their future. With a lot of help from Bord na Mona they gave us every chance to retrain and upskill ourselves. So the search was on to find a skill that would be beneficial for years to come. After a lot of thought and discussions at home with my family I came upon upholstery and having some carpentry skills, this was my future. All very excited, I started looking up upholstery courses which I found to be virtually non-existent. After weeks of searching and getting disheartened I came across the Q centre which offered a course.

I wasted no time contacting them. My details were taken by Marion and I shortly received a phone call from Noel to discuss the course and finally the call from Brendan to say all was good. I had been given a taster course to see how I liked it. All went well, so I had no problem enrolling for Level 3 and to my surprise it was free of charge.

The first day arrived and I was to meet my new classmates, that was not at all disappointing from the first day we all hit it off and became friends in and out of class. Always helped each other had great fun and plenty of laughs together. Some will be my friends for a lot of years to come.

After Level 3 finished there was no hesitation in signing up for Level 4 or even Level 5, which would give me another 3 years of learning from what I can only describe as the kindest person you could have the pleasure of meeting. Noel has a world of knowledge and gives it to everyone without hesitation and is always available to help no matter what.

Things were going very well with the course and I had plans made to start my own business with the help of a scheme called “start your own business enterprise”. The day came when I was officially a business called “JR Design Upholstery”. I seemed to hit the ground running and things went really well from the start, with Noel always there to help out when needed. Unfortunately, things went so well I reluctantly had to pull out of Level 5 after only 1 year. Still it was great to be so busy with work, but I do hope to get back at some stage and finish it. Sarah and Noel have put so much into Level 5 with art and upholstery combined there is so much to learn. That ends my story. For now all I can say is a big Thank you to all in the Q centre. It’s home away from home, and to Noel, whom I regard as a good friend.

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Thinking of returning to education as an adult? You may find the following resources helpful:

One Step Up: https://www.onestepup.ie/  

Fetch Courseshttps://www.fetchcourses.ie/

eCollegehttps://www.ecollege.ie/

JR Design Upholstery: https://www.facebook.com/JR-Design-Upholstery-115844156455861/

The Q Centre, Mallow, Cork ETB: https://www.facebook.com/TheQCentre/

Starting your own Business local enterprise programme: https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Training-Programmes/Start-Your-Own-Business-Programme/