South Tyneside Woman Scraps Her Career In Order To Build Her Own Business

A trip to Canada to visit her sister helped one South Tyneside woman piece together a new career.

Ann Prior had worked for years in the health service doing administration work and teaching clinical audit to health care professionals, and later for South Tyneside Council in an administrative role, but always wanted to have her own business.

It was during a trip to Canada to visit her sister that she saw how hugely popular the craft of scrap-booking is over there and thought there could be a business opportunity in it on her return.

In America, scrap-booking – a method of creating attractive displays of photographs and text – is a multi billion dollar industry and it’s winning over an army of fans in this country.

Now Ann has launched her own online business, The Scrap Book Garden, selling a wide and varied selection of materials needed for the craft and has also started classes in scrap-booking through Adult and Community Learning.

Ann said: “I enjoyed my work with the health service but after years of doing the same thing, I really wanted to do something different.

“At first I launched a card making and scrap-booking business with my sister, which was a combination of a website and a shop in the Midlands, before I decided to branch out on my own.”

As well as the online business Ann teaches scrap-booking through Adult and Community Learning. She said: “The response from the students has been amazing – sometimes they start off with a bit of scepticism and end up being completely hooked.

Ann was guided into business with the help of Nicky Gray, a UCanB Champion from TEDCO.

Nicky said: “Ann clearly spotted a business opportunity while travelling and is ahead of the game in a hobby that is enjoying a boom in this country.”

The UCanB project is delivered by TEDCO on behalf of and funded through South Tyneside Means Business, a partnership responsible for increasing the number of business start-ups and survivals, supporting businesses to grow and attracting inward investment in South Tyneside.

Ann can be contacted on 0191 536 2538 or her website can be found at www.thescrapbookgarden.co.uk.

To contact an Enterprise Champion, please call 0191 428 3383 or email ucanb@tedco.org or for further information on South Tyneside Means Business, please visit www.southtynesidemeansbusiness.co.uk.

Photograph: Ann Prior from The Scrapbook Garden.