| By :
Martin Hofschroer
An ex-educator has swapped teaching for taps after training to become a plumber at the age of 53. Gillian Roberts told the Daily Mail that she chose to change career and become a plumber after volunteering for redundancy at the sixth-form college where she taught IT. Gillian Roberts took advantage of the freedom afforded to her by unemployment and used her redundancy money to finance plumbing courses which would allow her to become a fully qualified plumber. She told the newspaper; "There'd always been a voice in my head telling me not to do anything rash, but suddenly it was gone, replaced by freedom to chase my dreams. And strange as it sounds, my dream had always been to be a plumber like my dad." Ms Roberts had been a teacher for 15 years and revealed that she would not have taken the plunge and changed careers to start her dream job if it had not been for the redundancy payment she received. The £7,000 redundancy package allowed Ms Roberts to buy a van and enrol on plumbing courses, which she completed by getting 100 per cent in all of her modules. Gillian Roberts said that she especially enjoyed the practical elements of the plumbing courses where she pressure-tested copper pipes, fitted radiators and installed power showers. There were a number of men in their 50s and 60s retraining to become a plumber so Ms Roberts was not the oldest student on her plumbing courses. Ms Roberts has since set up business after completing her plumbing courses and has already fitted a number of kitchens and bathrooms. She told the newspaper: "I wish I'd done this years ago - but perhaps I wouldn't have appreciated being a plumber as much then because I wouldn't have gone through the years of teaching first." The Daily Mail reported how Charlie Mullins used the skills he learned on plumbing courses to help found his business Pimlico Plumbers which is now worth an estimated ten million pounds. Mr Mullins' success story was used as an example of how many of the richest people in Britain did not go to university and instead chose to take vocational courses and learn their skills through on the job training. The City & Guilds Vocational Rich List is published every year and features famous entrepreneurs such as John Frieda, Gordon Ramsay and Dame Vivienne Westwood who made their fortune after studying practical courses.
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