“Skills Which I Can Take Literally Anywhere”

Former Paratrooper Steve Brown thought he didn’t have the skills or the funds to get into boatbuilding, but ‘fate’ led him to the BBA.

Steve, now 41, explained: “I left the Paras with the intention of joining the Fire Service. But that didn’t work out, and that totally scuppered my plans… I had come across the Boat Building Academy in some resettlement information and was really interested, but unfortunately, I couldn’t afford the long course at the time. Then I was left a small inheritance. This, together with my resettlement was enough to pay for the course and I took it as a sign. I enrolled and I’ve never regretted it.”

Steve travelled to Lyme Regis in a van he had converted into living accommodation.

“Straight away I could see we were a very ‘mixed’ class. There were some young people, some in their 30s like me and some retired people too. From the outside it probably looked like quite a strange dynamic, but it worked. We all got on and when we moved downstairs for the build half of the course we worked really well as a team.”

He continued: “Before the course, my only real link to woodworking had been a great uncle who was a carpenter. He taught me to use his tools and eventually I was fortunate to inherit some of those tools. Even so, I came to it all very fresh.

“One of the biggest challenges was recognising I wasn’t going to be good at everything straight away. There were some really humbling experiences and frustrations! but I realised that like everyone, I just had to learn and do it the hard way. It’s a real Zero to Hero course! Long days, very intense. Luckily, the tutors really know their stuff and it’s very much about watching, learning, then doing and asking as many questions as you like. You’re also part of a team and everyone chips in. I think that’s why people from Forces backgrounds do well there.”

Steve left the BBA and went back to London to work for a traditional boat builder in Richmond, but he missed the rural life.

“Will, the Director at the BBA put me in touch with the Pendennis Shipyard, one of the world’s leading superyacht fitters, based in Falmouth and I got an interview and then a job offer.

“Adrian, one of the BBA students who had been on the course before me was living there and I went to stay with him. That’s another great thing about the BBA – there’s a lot of support and industry connections which can benefit you.”

He continued: “The difference between the BBA and somewhere like Pendennis is that you go from workshops and hand tools to massive machinery – I had never even seen most of these machines. It was a real baptism of fire, but it was an excellent first job and I worked there for four years and learned so much about modern joinery.”

When Covid hit, Steve went to help friends in Norway who ran a husky sledding business and used skills he had developed at the BBA to work on timber framing.

“There are so many avenues open to you in woodworking and if you have these skills, you can basically apply them anywhere,” he said.

When he returned to the UK he worked for a friend’s father’s boat building business in Bristol, and then on to Glossop in Derbyshire, where he is now very happy working for a traditional joinery company.

“I’m making wooden doors and things like panelling for traditional houses. I love it and I love where I am living… Looking back, the BBA was the perfect place for me after leaving the forces. It provided me with skills which I can take literally anywhere life takes me.”

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