Working away is not a holiday as people think

Working away is not a holiday as people think

1 June 2016

BEING involved in one of Alternative Heat’s first main contracts in Scotland three years ago was an exciting experience for Martin Ward following a long recession.

The 44 year-old manufacturing engineer, from Aughlisnafin, had worked locally all his life.

But as the recession took hold, the lack of long-term job security and prospects became grinding.

He was therefore delighted to work on a £2million order from the Scottish Highlands Council in 2013, retraining as a specialist biomass engineer in Austria to be fully skilled for the emerging market targeted by Alternative Heat.

Working in the firm’s Castlewellan yard when the biomass units were made, he then followed the shipment out to Scotland, beginning a new super-commuting lifestyle that would see him move between Edinburgh and Liverpool for the next three years.

“It was different, it was certainly something different,” he recalls.

“It was nice to have the stability and security after the recession when work really had dried up. If you weren’t away you would not have had the work, it was that simple.

“You are travelling because they need you to work and the work is guaranteed whereas at home it is still hit and miss.

“Locally you can hope for a few weeks of work in front of you at the most, but in Scotland and England it is steady all the time.

“But it is not a holiday as some people think. You work 12 hour shifts and then go back to the digs.”

Three years after embarking on his big commute, however, Martin admits he was keen to get back home for at least a while.

Since Christmas, the father-of-three has been delighted to be based back in Alternative Heat’s Castlewellan yard.

He said he is relieved to be home seven days a week after starting to feel that work was eating too much into his family time.

“We were away for three years and sometimes you can feel like a stranger in your own house. I started to feel like I was missing out on too much coming in on a Friday at 10pm,” he said.

“No sooner had you unpacked than you were back out the door. When I was away I didn’t know what was going on in wider social circles.

“I don’t think you could do it long term with a family. It is nice to be back home and be back in the run of things.”

Although Martin said he had managed to find work throughout the recession, he said the difficult times meant he would “never say never” to commuting big distances again.

“I would not be in a big pinch to go away again,” he said.

“I would prefer to stay close to home, but the reality is that sometimes needs must.”