What was/is your job?

glass I too have just reread. I was impressed when people first posted and remain so now.

Meant to add that I coached girls football teams in a voluntary capacity,rewards being a few trophies(including one in Barcelona) and girls gaining International caps for Scotland.

I have just gone through this thread and you are a talented lot

Left school at 16 and trained as a nursery nurse for two years to gain NNEB diploma (it,s all NVQ,s now) worked in a shop Friday evenings and Saturday's whilst still at school for a bit of pin money. Went to secondary modern school after failing 11 plus so left with a handful of O levels and feeling like second best.
Had 1st child at 22 and stayed home as full time mother for 12 years (best job of all) went back to work full time as nursery nurse when youngest child was 6 and worked at this job in special baby care at a hospital, infant schools and nurseries and a family centre with social services where I eventually left after 14 years with a level of burnout because I couldn't stand the stress of all the child protection issues I was dealing with?
Retrained as a counselling therapist studying for a BA with the open university whilst working at previous job, and got a postgrad diploma and MA in counselling and postgrad diploma in counselling supervision ( sec mod teachers gave me inferiority complex but determined to prove them wrong and am now more qualified than they were which is very satisfying!)
I now work in the NHS counselling adults and education counselling adolescents and have a small private practice as well? I have also worked since. 1995 in the voluntary sector although not as much as I did.
Now enjoy being a Granny to precious nearly 4 twins as much as I did being a mother so full circle really?

another teacher...SEN retired 2 years. loved it but was glad to stop due to OFSTED!

My first job at age 13 and still at school was in a local plant Nursery,a couple of hours a day after school and on a Saturday/Sunday.Over the years I then had various jobs,including working in a shop,in a care home for ex servicemen/woman,cleaning in my local school(which my children attended),mostly jobs which allowed me to work around school hours as I was divorced and solely responsible for my children's care.Fast forward to the present and children are married and I am 54 yrs old and I am doing what I always wanted to do.Working in a garden centre and loving it.Real job satisfaction with every hanging basket and container I plant��

I am now self employed after various jobs in the care sector:health care assistant,nursery nurse etc i work from home and chose my own hours. I sell Barefoot Books they are children's books, how they should be with art and stories to feed the imagination. I love working from home it gives me time to spend with elderly parents children and grand children!

I also wanted to be a teacher from the age of five, but when I finally achieved my aim in 1971 I found that schools had changed a lot since 1945! I still enjoyed my teaching career, but it was much harder work than I had imagined. (And it is even harder now).

Why not. It's always been my favourite type of humour!

lol Jeni .. I thought .. well, I'm on here now, what the hell, go with the flow!

snapyou have DEFINITLELY caught on to the double entendres bit!

Ella .. I've definitely heard (and used) that comment before .. but not for many years .. and certainly not in this context!

snapshot I'll show you mine if you show me yours!!

Oh go on snappy we are always interested in new things on here.It's nice to know more about our friends, it helps to build up a picture of what we're all like.

I left school at 15yrs and did a year at college doing a full time painting & decorating course (1968-69) but thought 'this job won't pay enough' .. then did 6mth in the RAF (1969) but thought 'not for me thanks' .. then an apprenticeship in Fabrication & Welding (1970-74) and, apart from the odd look at pastures new, I've been involved in welding ever since .. I have, however, been unemployed on and off for the better part of 18mths, but I persevere with job applications .. I used to design & build Toy Castles & Forts when my wife & I were still together and had a home, but we've been separated since mid 2010 and I haven't made any since we split .. I have a few partially built but as I only have a flat it's not easy .. I may post some photos of the Forts on Gransnet, although I wouldn't really imagine much interest so maybe I won't after all.

Sounds marvellous!

At the age of 5 I announced that I wanted to be a teacher. I started straight away with my friends, even persuading them to do homework for me. I have run my own nursery school, taught infants, juniors, adults, special needs, home tuition, permanently hospitallised children,and children with severe learning difficulties. My colleague and I have run an enterprise where we went into schools and gave them a whole day on the Tudors, the Victorians or the 2nd World War complete with costume and masses of artifacts. In order not to waste the ''stuff'' we have accumulated my colleague and I now give talks to WIs and other such groups so you could say we are still teaching as the groups often say ''We have learned so much today'' . What a lovely life, I never want to stop.

Hi everyone, I'm new, too. This is my first time on any forum as I've only been on the'net' for 5 months.
I'm 64, disabled for last 15 years. Before that I trained as a SRN at 18, after numerous Saturday jobs beginning with Woolworths.On the way there every Sat. I wept - it was so boring! After nurse training I married, had 2 kids & stayed at home until the youngest was 4 years old.
Having a low boredom threshold, I not only changed wards every couple of years, but hospitals too.
I then experienced deep bouts of depression for the following 20 years; after each bout, my confidence was rock-bottom, no way I could return to nursing.
Consequently, I've had numerous 'lesser' jobs, interspersed with several returns to nursing, usually agency.
My favourite job of all time was as a delivery driver/resource clerk for North West Essex Health Authority, which I did for very low pay, but where I was SO happy!
I discovered that Essex is beutiful in every season, with picturesque villages everywhere.

For the last 20 years I've been a freelance proofreader and editor; also a TEFL tutor. When I left school I turned down a university scholarship and got a job looking after horses. Later, I worked in the City as a secretary, and in various London libraries. I worked in boarding schools - very happily. In my late 30s we bought a smallholding, and I ran it for nearly three years, while my husband worked in Saudi Arabia. At the time the youngest of my three children was just over one when my husband went abroad. I learnt a lot about sheep very quickly! It didn't work out when his job finished, and we moved nearer London. In my 40s I did an OU degree, which took me 6 years. After my divorce, I did a TEFL course, and worked full time as a sub-editor, which led to freelance work.

As I've said elsewhere, I've been the victim of a very clever conman, and have been left with very little of the money I've earned. I'm trying to get back to the freelance proofreading and the TEFL, but I've had to move and it's taking time to get re-established. I'm also looking into working with animals - horses and dogs particularly - which I love.

They wouldn't turn you away in residential social or probation work. A nurse is an asset if you have the aptitude to work with troubled people and challenging behaviour. Not as extreme, in terms of physical violence, as phych units and A and E, but still challenging.

Why don't they want you? Seems strange to me!

I was a secretary before getting married and whilst married, then had children, stayed at home for a couple of years. Did voluntary work whilst the children were young and went back to college to get A levels.
Went to University in my late 40's to do psychiatric nursing, after 8 years of that decided that being spit, punched, attacked and abused in inpatient was getting on my nerves and stressing me.
Took a career change and now do housekeeping, completely different to what I'm used to, but have'nt given up on the nursing, just don't want to do inpatient anymore.
But, I have found that employers don't usually want to take a chance on employing someone when they have been a nurse or looking for a career change (my present employer told me this, and had experience), so very difficult sometimes to change careers, particularly at my age.

jill of all trades master of none,bit of this bit of that,chief cook and bottle washer,having said that have always got the jobs I applied for,have always been very hands on,feel quite embarrased now by my lack of qualifications,although always say educated at the university of life.
mediocre mum and nan,think I missed my vocation as a jester because I love to make people laugh

Thanks whenim64 I do really enjoy working with kiddies but think I would like to try something very different after 35 years! I may do some volunteering to see what else I can do! I ran a successful school which involved managing personnel , budget and premises as well as all the learning& teaching for all the kids but sometimes do not feel confident out of my comfort zone and feel I should challenge myself!

My little Luke is playing "The Artful Dodger" in his drama group which has been set up at school on Saturday mornings,he suits the part with his bright red spec's.