A Swindon man has recently opened up a brand-new skill centre after changing his career path because of Covid.

Jimmy Hyslop, 52, had been a plasterer his whole life but after being hospitalised from Covid two years ago, he decided to open a plastering school.

After two years of successfully running the plastering school, Jimmy opened the Athena Skills Centre on Saturday, February 10.Swindon Advertiser:

Having Covid made Jimmy rethink his career, as he had to reconsider if he would be physically fit enough to do the manual trade.

That is when the idea struck him to open up a plastering school, which he has been running out of Unit 2 and 3 Lower Basset Down Workshops near Wroughton for the last two years.

Jimmy told the Adver: “Being ill in any sort of form will make you think differently but I thought there would be something more to life than running around making money and then I came up with the idea. It’s a great lifestyle.

“Teaching is a really great thing and maybe I should have done this earlier on in my life.

“I wasn’t fit enough to do plastering but that is all I have done all my life, what else am I going to do?

“This is a lot bigger than what I think, there are people that can’t access these kind of courses.

“This is absolutely wonderful, two years I have been doing this.

"It was a change in career for me, it is fantastic.

"It is very rewarding when you teach somebody and they come back to you and they say look at what I have done."Swindon Advertiser: After realising how great the demand there was in Swindon for other skills such as bricklaying, tiling, arts and crafts, furniture upcycling and French polishing, Jimmy decided to move units and open up a larger school that offers a range of lessons

Jimmy said that he offers a service that not many people are able to access, adding that members of the public often don’t have the time to go college, so therefore Jimmy provides short and intense courses that are practical and teach attendees the skills they require.

The new skill centre hosted a range of activities to mark its opening.