Engineer Rebecca Davies is spearheading a campaign to inspire more women to follow in her footsteps.

Rebecca, 30, helped to shatter stereotypical views about all gas engineers being male by becoming firmly established in the role with housing association Cartrefi Conwy.

She performs vital work at the thousands of properties Cartrefi manages across Conwy county.

Now Rebecca is helping inspire other women to look at pursuing careers in traditionally male-dominated roles, having been a guest speaker during an exclusively female Passport to Construction course.

Run by Creating Enterprise, a subsidiary of Cartrefi based in Mochdre, near Colwyn Bay, the course aimed to show women that roles in fields such as construction and engineering are not just jobs for the boys.

“I was happy to be involved and to talk to the participants on the course about what I do,” said Rebecca.

“If it helps someone decide they want to work in a role such as this then I will be pleased to hear it.

“People can still have a stereotypical view of what an engineer should be like and act surprised when a woman turns up at their door, even though we have done the same courses as the men to become qualified.

“Hopefully, the Passport to Construction course has shown the women who took part that they can go on and work in roles like the one I do.”

A former pupil at Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan in Abergele, Rebecca had initially aspired to work in the more traditionally female-led role of midwifery.

But later she recognised she had the potential to become a plumber, deciding she would start training for this role upon leaving school.

However, Rebecca found her plans were met with scepticism.

“When I said what I wanted to do I was told by a teacher that I wouldn’t be able to do it,” said Rebecca, of Llysfaen. “They said it was a man’s job.

“That helped give me the desire to go and do it and prove them wrong.”

Rebecca duly did just that. She completed her plumbing apprenticeship at Coleg Llandrillo in Rhos-on-Sea, following it up by becoming qualified as a gas engineer.

This has enabled her to operate in her current role at Cartrefi Conwy, where she has worked for seven years.

It is a period that has coincided with Rebecca becoming a mother to three-year-old Phoebe.

“I enjoy working for Cartrefi. They have always been supportive,” said Rebecca, who is married to Craig.

“It is a very family-orientated organisation and they have been very supportive and understanding since I have had a child.

“There is always plenty of work to do. This is a busy time of year due to the bad weather, which means a lot of emergency repairs have to be done.”

Creating Enterprise has helped dozens of people find work in recent months.

It was named as the fastest growing firm in Wales at the 2020 Wales Fast Growth 50 awards, following a rapid period of expansion.

Sioned Wyn Williams,  Creating Futures Manager  at Creating Enterprise, said: “The construction industry is thriving and the course offers people the chance to potentially go on and find work within it.

Sioned is particularly grateful for the involvement of Brenig Construction, which has allowed participants on the course to gain a flavour of the work it carries out.

“We are really fortunate to have such an excellent relationship with Brenig,” said Sioned.

“They have been absolutely brilliant and have gone out of their way to help everyone on the course see what working in the construction industry is really like.”

One of the key messages from the past year is that volunteers make a huge, invaluable contribution to the wellbeing of our communities.

With this in mind, we are currently looking for volunteers to support digitally excluded Cartrefi Conwy tenants to get online and stay connected through our Loan IT project. You don’t need to be an expert in IT, as long as you’re open to learning new things and passionate about helping people. Digital Communities Wales will be providing full ‘Digital Champion’ training at the beginning of April, and there will be plenty of ongoing support from our own Project Co-ordinators.

If you have a little time to spare to make a big difference to a tenant’s life and feel you would benefit from the training and experience the role offers, please take a look at our Current Volunteer Opportunities page where you can find more information and download an interest form.

We asked our Job Search Co-ordinator, Ayshea, for her top tips for finding and securing an apprenticeship…

Where to find apprenticeship vacancies:

• Register to get alerts from Career Wales.
• You will need to use your initiative to find employers who take on apprentices – check their websites, email them, write to them or even phone them.
• Use your own contacts – ask family and friends.
• Check the online job sites regularly and set up vacancy alerts.

Before you apply:

• Employers will get lots of CVs, cover letters and application forms, so you need to stand out in a positive way.
• Your CV should not stay the same for each apprenticeship you apply for – it needs to appeal directly to what each individual employer is looking for.
• You may need a cover letter. There are lots of examples online to guide you.
• Some employers might ask you to take assessments – remember to practice, practice and practice before you take the assessment!
• If you impress at application stage and are selected for interview it is important to prepare thoroughly. Study the job description and person specification carefully, and do your research.

Remember: Our Creating Futures team can help you with searching for vacancies, writing a CV and covering letter, filling in application forms and preparing for interviews. Get in touch today to get started.

Our first ever Passport to Construction course tailored specifically to women starts Tuesday 24 November 2020.

Join us to find out about different roles within the industry, learn the basics of health & safety, and brush up on your employability skills. Sessions will take place online 2 mornings a week for 3 weeks. If you’re interested in gaining an insight into this exciting, growing sector, we’d love to hear from you!

01492 588 980

employmentacademy@creatingenterprise.org.uk

We recently launched the brand new website for the much-anticipated Creating Loyalty project, which aims to bring together local businesses and working families through mutual loyalty. The website gives businesses the opportunity to advertise discounts and other offers which can then be redeemed by eligible families via a bespoke mobile app launching soon.

Take a look at the website here: www.creatingloyalty.co.uk

The last few months have been hard on everyone in Conwy, but if the COVID-19 situation has taught us anything it is the importance of coming together and supporting each other. In return for the discounts they offer to families, businesses who get involved with the Creating Loyalty project can expect free advertising space, promotion on social media and local radio, increased trade and an enhanced reputation amongst a community which is so keen to help out.

Businesses already involved include:

• Virgilio’s Restaurant & Takeaway
• Paradox Health & Fitness
• The Sugar Den

Could your business benefit from everything Creating Loyalty has to offer? Simply call Jasmine on 01492 588 980 or email admin@creatingloyalty.co.uk

Eligibility criteria for families:

The Creating Loyalty app will be made available to all families living in social housing or private rented accommodation in Conwy county where at least one person in the household is working.

Our latest project, Loan IT, in partnership with Cartrefi Conwy is underway.

We will loan data enabled devices to isolated tenants and pair them up with a volunteer who will support them to make the best use of their device. At the end of the 3 month period, we will source suitable permanent devices for them.

Over the last month, we have sourced 18 tablets, with a massive thank you to Gwynt y Mor funding and a donation from Digital Communities Wales.

6 of our newly recruited volunteer Digital Champions have received training from Digital Communities Wales, and are excited to meet the tenants, referred by Cartrefi Conwy colleagues, over the next few weeks.

Can you spare a little time to make a big difference to someone’s life? Become a Digital Champion here.

On Tuesday 11 August we held the first Open House event at the storage space in BOCS, Mochdre which is occupied by our ‘Second Chance’ furniture reuse project. Furniture and other household goods are delivered to the storage space on a regular basis by the Property Turnaround team, and can be collected free of charge by tenants for use within their own homes.

Tenants would normally be referred to the service by one of our Cartrefi Conwy colleagues, but the Open House event offered an opportunity for self-referrals to be made. Within hours of the event being advertised on Creating Enterprise’s social media pages, all of the COVID-19 compliant appointments had been booked up, demonstrating local demand for the service. This is further reflected in the fact that additional appointments have been made and filled by tenants referred by Cartrefi Conwy staff every day this week.

During Tuesday’s event, over 20 items were collected, taking the cumulative total for August alone to 45, not inclusive of miscellaneous household goods including pots, pans, bedding and towels. In August so far, 11 different tenants and their families have been supported by the project, ranging from those moving from temporary to permanent accommodation to a group of international nurses who have travelled to study and work at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Future Open House events will be advertised on our Facebook page.

We are delighted to share the news that Creating Enterprise has been named on the NatWest SE100 Index for the second year running. The index – which lists the top 100 social enterprises in the country – is an acknowledgement of excellence in the areas of business performance, impact management, and leadership, and we could not be prouder to have been featured on it.

Managing Director, Adrian Johnson, says, “At such strange times, this is fantastic news to be named amongst the top Social Enterprises in the UK for the second year. This is testament to the work that this fantastic organisation does and our colleagues that work hard every day to improve people’s lives and give opportunities to work”.

More information about the index, plus the full list of the UK’s top social enterprises can be found by clicking .

Here’s what’s on offer from our Creating Futures team over the next couple of weeks (27 April – 8 May). Getting involved is as simple as 123:

1. Send us a Facebook message telling us that you’re interested.
2. We’ll give you a quick call back with some very basic instructions.
3. Join in!

We’ve had some great feedback so far, and we’re looking forward to continuing to support our community during the Coronavirus situation and beyond!