THE closure of Ena Shaw was a big deal for all us staff and our loyal customers.

But this is a situation that can happen to any company anytime, anywhere.


I was employed by the showroom at Duke Street to look after all our good customers, furniture, carpets etc when it arrived into the warehouse at Lea Green and ultimately then store it and prepare it to be delivered and collected.


Now I have lost my job but we (all of us) do need to be grateful to all the staff at the job centre, careers service, Back to Work, Ways to Work and our own council for the way they have been with us in this difficult time.


Compassion, respect and generally being very helpful in trying to get me (us) back into work, help with any benefits we are/may be entitled to, help with CVs and just generally being nice people (a virtue too easily overlooked when you’re not receiving a wage and the imminent bills are due).


Take stock and be proactive. There are many jobs out there and once a new job is secured think on – all the people who’ve helped us on this rocky road, they are the champions, and we should applaud them for their help.

For them the ultimate goal of their job is to get us back into work, a job they all do brilliantly.

I’m proud to be a Sintelliner (albeit originally a Widnesian) so think on – shop and spend local, use local self-employed workforce, use your local small businesses and smile for our town.


Ian Mcglinchey, via sthelensstar.co.uk