22nd February 2008

A disabled Darlington man is celebrating finding his first job in mainstream employment in 26 years after spending most of his working life at Remploy’s Spennymoor factory.

50-year-old Collin Reese, who is deaf without speech, has just started his new job as an assembly worker at Katell Ltd, a Newton Ayecliffe-based fireplace manufacturer. Collin had worked as a production operative at the Remploy site on Merrington Lane Industrial Estate for the previous 16 years and had spent a decade out of work before that.

It was the prospect of Remploy Spennymoor closing that spurred Collin on to find out about alternative employment opportunities in his local area.

“My factory employment advisor, Barrie Lund, organised an interview and work trial for me at Katell and arranged for an interpreter to accompany me to the interview,” said Collin. “Barrie then visited every two weeks and liaised with my employers to resolve any issues regarding my disability.

“When Remploy Spennymoor didn’t close I could have returned to my old job, but I’d enjoyed the work trial at Katell so much that I decided to take up its offer of permanent employment instead.

“After working at Remploy for so long, starting at a new company has been a big change, but we’ve overcome any initial communication difficulties and I’m now really enjoying the job and making new friends.”

Collin’s manager, Stuart Baily, said:

“Collin has fitted in and become one of the lads straight away. He enjoys the job and gets on well with everybody. He’s needed minimal training and his disability hasn’t affected his ability to do the job in any way.

“I’d personally like to see many more Remploy employees taking the opportunity to bring their valuable skills and abilities to mainstream jobs.”

Archive