subject: Plumbing Career Is 'for All Ages' [print this page] People of all ages should take part in plumbing courses, claims a former factory worker.
Kev Rowley spent twenty years of his life performing unfulfilling jobs in factories but has revealed to the Daily Mirror that he has now realized his dream to be a fully qualified plumber and heating engineer at the age of 45.
Years of working long and demanding shifts as a machine setter in an injection moulding factory made Mr Rowley look at the possibility of plumbing courses.
The benefits of plumbing courses were made clear to Mr Rowley when his two young sons started to enjoy working at a local plumbing company.
Mr Rowley realized that becoming a plumber would improve his work-life balance and enable him to spend more time with his family and friends.
Mr Rowley soon began to experience the joys of learning a trade despite being trained by younger people.
"I'd always get back to work the next day and realize how much I loved it. It didn't matter that I'd usually be out with younger guys teaching me the ropes," he told the Mirror.
Mr Rowley believes that his age actually helped him during the learning process as having reached 45 he was positive he wanted to become a plumber and determined to achieve a qualification in order to avoid going back to factory life and shift work.
He told the newspaper: "I think at 16 or 17, some youngsters don't yet know what they want out of life and are more keen on going out with their mates."
Now that he is a qualified plumber, Mr Rowley has said he is reaping the rewards of a more challenging and satisfying career, which continues to surprise and delight him.
"I love it. No two days are ever the same. My work is full of challenges and I'm out and about all the time meeting new people. I couldn't ask for more. I just enjoyed all the learning. Even though I'm qualified I'm still learning. It's one of those jobs," he told the Mirror.
Mr Rowley also said that he thought he had improved his health by retraining to become a plumber as he felt shift work was physically damaging.
Researchers at the University of Surrey found that working shifts will disturb a person's biological clock, leading to sleep loss, impaired memory and an increased risk of heart disease or strokes.
