BEA COLECHIN
Walking her dog along the river in Nottingham one day, 18-year-old swimming instructor Bea Colechin spotted a dilapidated 23ft (7.1m) canal boat for sale. She loved working with wood and had taken up a part-time furniture making course, so she pulled together all her savings and bought the boat.
“Two years down the line I was spending every waking hour on that boat and my dad pointed out that I could do it as a job rather than a hobby.”
Bea applied to Lowestoft International Boatbuilding Training College and qualified for a bursary and, at 19, moved to Suolk for the year-long course. “I had a fun time. You build up your skills really quickly.”
She secured her first job at the family-owned boatyard, Eastwood Whelpton in Norfolk, before she passed her final exams.
“I’ve ended up with a really good job because I get to do a bit of everything,” she says. “There’s nothing we can’t do as women, we just have to think a bit dierently sometimes. I’m by far the smallest person in my boatyard, so any jobs in hard-toreach places are my jobs because I can get in there better than anybody else.
“And the people here are very encouraging. Everyone’s always asking each other for their opinion on a job so I was able to ask questions. My confidence has improved massively.”