'I turned my Covid lockdown boredom into a career'

A former scrapyard worker who began making garden planters while he was furloughed from his job during Covid said he was proud he turned boredom into a business.

Bob Williams bought timber and tools and started producing planters from his shed during lockdown, as he said he could not sit around.

The 50-year-old, who ended up quitting his job to meet demand, now has a workshop in Stoke-on-Trent creating a range of handmade wooden products, and has converted part of the unit into a shop.

Williams said if it was not for his great community of neighbours putting up with noise for almost four years, he would not be where he was today.

"I like messing about with wood," he said, describing how his thought process in Covid was simply: "I've got a big shed, I'll get in the shed, rip everything out of that, buy some tools, and start making some planters."

Williams said demand for his creations was helped during lockdown because so many people were at home.

But the orders kept coming in when he went back to work at the scrapyard so he decided he was going to go for it as a business.

"Do we regret it? No, I don't think so, definitely not," he said.

The business expanded to include outdoor furniture and fencing panels as well as a range of planters.

Williams said he was still passionate about working with wood and proud to see his creations in people's gardens, but the downside of handmaking everything was the injuries.

"I've got so many injuries on my hands..my knuckles get hit by the drills and the hammers," he laughed.

His partner Sam Hallam will run the new shop, while he continues to work from the Fenton unit.

"It's been hard work, but now it's coming to fruition," she said, adding that it was good to have her garden back, after giving over the space to wood for so long.

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