Building a more secure future

12/04/2010

Julian McKenzie

After living the dream of owning his own nightclub, Julian McKenzie is working hard to turn a new ambition into reality. A dancer in the Seventies, supporting headline troupes like Hot Gossip, then a specialist plasterer, Julian and a friend put all their money into opening the club four years ago. But he lost everything when the Burgess Hill club changed hands in 2008. “I’m working my way back up from nothing,” says Julian. He is now building towards a more secure future with the help of Central Sussex College in Crawley, where an Introduction to Building Services course refreshed old skills he had gained as a self-employed plasterer, and provided the opportunity to develop new skills. Julian is now working towards the further qualifications he needs to set up his own building company. “The course gave me exactly the start I needed,” says Julian. “I’m a driven and focused person, so I don’t have a problem about starting from scratch again.”