Praying for jobs

Rob Pittam
Working Lunch

Josiah Wedgwood's memorial in St Peters church, Stoke on Trent.

Josiah Wedgwood must be turning in his grave.

The company he set up 250 years ago at the dawn of the industrial revolution has gone into administration.

It's been bought by an American firm, but 350 posts are going.

What's more, at the church in which he's buried, they're praying for jobs.

The tomb of the famous father of the pottery industry can be found in the grounds of St Peter ad Vincula in Stoke on Trent.

St Peters is the parish church for the city, its great occasions are held here.

Mayors are blessed in the church, famous sons and daughters of the Potteries, people like Stanley Matthews, have their funerals here.

As a Unitarian, Josiah actually worshipped at a chapel up the road, but that doesn't have a graveyard and so he's buried in the grounds of St Peters - at a suitable distance from the main part of this Anglican church.

The tombs of the Spode family - another pottery dynasty - are here too.

Inside there are memorials to the founders of the industry that brought so many wealth and jobs to the city.

Call to prayer

David Lingwood praying for better times

But right now it's a different story. With the pottery industry ravaged and job losses at companies like JCB, the city is suffering more than most.

Rector David Lingwood is now calling for more help - from above.

He's held a vigil for jobs in the church and regularly prays for an upturn in the city's economy during his services.

"It's exactly the kind of thing we should be doing," he says.

"The Church is at the heart of this city and this community, we feel its joy and its pain.

"We have members of our congregation who have lost their jobs and so it is only right that we should address this issue in our church."

As befits his calling, David preaches a message of hope. Hope that things will get better and that jobs will come once again.

But is there any substance to the hope?

Glimmers of recovery

Well, during our visit to Staffordshire we came across two bright spots amid the gloom.

Two people who lost their jobs with just half an hour's notice proved that there is life after redundancy.

Dave Roberts and Denise Meadows were both working at a firm in Stone in Staffordshire that used lasers to cut sheet metal when the company collapsed.

They've scraped together everything they have to raise £200,000 to get their own laser-cutting business up and running.

It's a nice feeling to create something and bring it to life Dave Roberts

Denise said "We thought we were good at our job and anyway, there aren't many opportunities coming up in manufacturing, so we decided to give it a go ourselves."

Her business partner, Dave, even sold his beloved jeep to get the business afloat. That helped to pay for compressors for the high-tech cutting machine they've bought.

"I'm really enjoying it at the moment," he told me, looking around at the business unit they've fitted out.

"It's only four months since we lost our jobs and yet we've managed to get all this up and running. It's a nice feeling to create something and bring it to life."

But it's not easy for them. Neither is taking a salary out of their fledgling business. It's particularly tough for Denise, her husband has also been made redundant.

But she's confident setting out in business herself will prove to be the right move.

Hotel bargains

Twenty miles further south is another sad story with a happy ending.

The future of the Hatherton Country House Hotel in Penkridge was in doubt when its parent company went into administration.

Business is good for Peter Cashmore

But it's one of 10 hotels bought out by businessman Peter Cashman. Peter has worked in the hotel industry all his life, in fact he's worked at the Hatherton before.

Now he's snapping up bargains thrown up by the recession to build up his own hotel chain.

"This is a really good time to be buying hotels. The economic problems are throwing up opportunities everywhere. You just need the courage to take them."

"You just have to take an optimistic view about the future, and I'm always optimistic."

Jobs saved

Peter is keeping on all the staff he's inherited at each of the hotels.

Good news for people like Helen Murphy, Financial Controller at the hotel.

"When we were in administration everyone was really worried about our futures.

"But it's great news that it's going to stay open, especially as we've been bought by someone we know too."

It means 490 people who would have lost their jobs if the hotels had been wound up are now still in work.

Their prayers at least have been answered.

And back at St Peters I took a closer look at the memorial to Josiah Wedgwood.

His admiring friends had described him as a man who "Converted a rude and inconsiderable manufactory, and turned it into an elegant art and an important part of national commerce."

In the Church in which he's buried, they're praying that more people like him will emerge.