Redundancy push that let dream take off

Jun 2 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

AN IT expert is taking to the skies to fulfil his dreams after being made redundant from a Newcastle law firm and believes he can now create a successful flying school.

When Watson Burton announced earlier this year that it was cutting about 75 staff, Gordon Wilson faced an uncertain future.

But the bad news provided just the push the 46-year-old needed to pursue his ambition of becoming a full-time flying instructor and he is now revising for his instructor’s exam later this month. After the exam he will join Purple Aviation at Eshott airfield, north of Morpeth in Northumberland, where he will work for instructor Storm Smith for two years, after which he plans to go it alone and set up his own business.

In 1996, after 16 years in the Army, Mr Wilson, of West Denton, Newcastle, became an IT trainer and worked for a number of companies in the region before joining Watson Burton in 2007. With the firm expanding into Leeds and London, everything was going well.

But as the recession took its toll on the firm, he realised he had to take action and booked himself into a flying instructor training course. He said: “I realised early on that I had to have something to fall back on if everything didn’t go to plan during the recession. I have flown microlight planes for the past nine years and realised that it was something that I could make a business out of.

“I didn’t see any point in moping around, waiting to be made redundant, so I decided to take voluntary redundancy and move on with my life. I haven’t wasted any time and have already completed a two-week intensive training course.”