DAY IN THE LIFE Page

Lifelong car enthusiast with an appetite for change

Leah Guilliard-Watts of Cropredy Bridge

CARS BECAME the only ‘thing’ in my life that made me smile when I lost my little brother to cancer. I was six, he was three. We used to love watching my dad, a tool setter, fix his cars. His green Cortina inspired me to invite kids from our street for a ‘drive’. I’d play with the gearstick and indicators and we’d talk about where we were going. I still take any opportunity to get behind the wheel of a car.

I get up at 7am, seven days a week, check my emails and log into the three social media accounts I manage. I have two laptops, a tablet and a phone, which will be with me all day. When my husband Matt purchased Cropredy Bridge, a Jensen specialist in Oxfordshire, I had the opportunity to use my skillset as a consultant and project manager to help get things up and running. We’re there by 9am and, when I’m not in the office, I’m out in the workshop making sure everything is running the way it should be.

The first time I drove a Jensen I was petrified, but now I test drive our sales cars before they’ve been serviced so I’m often the one to find out if there’s something wrong with them. I’m not mechanically minded, but I’ve got two project cars: a Renault 5 that’s in storage and Loubi Lou, my 1974 Jensen-Healey. She’s very sick, so needs a full restoration. I’m doing the research myself, but I’m working on her with our 16-year-old apprentice, Ed. We’re learning together, but he knows more than me. It’s also important to me for the team to see me out there, not behind a laptop, wearing the same overalls as them. I’m driving a cultural change.

My ultimate goal is to give young people the opportunities that I didn’t have, so I’m setting up an area at Cropredy Bridge where I can host workshops with schoolchildren. We can’t wait for the next generation to come to us: it’s our responsibility to show them what they can do.

Members of the Driven Collective, a group I founded in 2020 to support women who work in the motoring sector, will be involved. Amongst us we have an engineer, a photographer, journalist, mechanic, workshop owner, and a marketing strategist, who can come along and share experiences and advice.

The automotive industry can be tough for women. I’ve felt lonely and vulnerable, and I know others feel the same. The pandemic has stalled our progress, but the Driven Collective aims to host networking events and rallies that will provide women with a safe space to meet, celebrate and inspire one another.

I have experienced discrimination in this industry. I accept the pain and the hurt, but for me it’s about taking positive action. I want to give people who are experiencing these things an ally, and the confidence to say this is what’s going on that I’m having to cope with.

I would like to see a more diverse community, both in terms of gender and ethnicity, but I don’t see it as a major issue. If anything, I’m proud that I’m doing my thing and hope it says to others that they can, too.

I often have lunch on the go, but lockdown restrictions have meant there’s less to-ing and fro-ing. I get home around 6pm, and work until 9pm. By half-past I’m usually asleep on the sofa – unless I’m on deadline for the Jensen Owners’ Club members’ magazine, and then I’ll be up all night.

In 2019 I became both the first female and the first black editor of it. I was excited, but the rose-tinted glasses came off when I did my first edition. So much hard work goes into it, but I didn’t realise how important it is to members. People join clubs to be part of something, and the magazine makes them feel connected. During the first lockdown in 2020 I wasn’t able to produce an issue, but I put together a newsletter so that members had something.

Matt cooks during the week, but Thursday is Nando’s night. Professionally, and in our marriage, we work because of our respect for each other. By cooking he allows me the time and headspace to focus, but at the weekend I’ll put my creative hat on in the kitchen.

I cycle every day and recently completed the Cycle for Smart Works challenge to raise funds for unemployed women in need. I pop on my pink headphones and listen to audiobooks or music; in the morning it gives me time to think, in the evening it helps me wind down.

To switch off, we go for long walks. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think about my parents in North Wales; it’s been so long since I’ve seen them. When I lived there, I got my positive energy from the mountains or by driving to the coast. I’ll have flashbacks at my desk; I miss it, and I miss them.

Cars will always bring me comfort because they remind me of my dad and my brother. It’s a link that we will always have.

‘MY ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO GIVE YOUNG PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT I DIDN’T HAVE’