Brian Sample has always been passionate about gardens and the outdoors.
He trained at Kew in London and Ascomb Grange in York. He also spent a number of years as a long distance truck driver. Due to a back injury he had to stop driving and was out of work for quite a long time.
In late 2010, Brian’s doctors cleared him to return to work – but not distance driving! This gave him the chance to return to his first love of gardening, so he decided to explore the possibility of self employment.
Brian heard about Five Lamps and around Christmas 2010 met up with Chris Butler, Five Lamps’ Senior Business Development Officer, who signposted him onto Stockton’s Enterprise Gateway programme.
Over the next couple of months, Brian attended various Five Lamps Enterprise Gateway workshops, including bookkeeping and marketing. Brian also worked with Chris to identify potential customers, decide on how to market the business and produce a business plan.
The business plan helped him access some funding from Stockton Council’s Communities Fund for his initial start up costs.
Brian started trading as BWS Gardening in early March 2011 and is already very busy.
Speaking to Chris recently, he said
“I should have done this years’ ago, loving every minute of it. It’s given me a whole new lease of life”
Five Lamps run Communities Fund on behalf of Stockton Council to support people who are unemployed. The Enterprise Gateway is delivered by Five Lamps on behalf of Stockton Borough Council.
The Enterprise Gateway project is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, securing £380,643 ERDF investment. The ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013 is bringing over £300m into the North East to support innovation, enterprise and business support across the region.