While jobs at Wedgwood hang in the balance, these former potbank workers prove there's light at the end of the tunnel. For Julie Gould and friend Julie Newbold, it led to rewarding new careers in the world of art. By Alan Cookman

JULIE Gould has a piece of advice for pottery workers who are worried about the future.

"Believe in yourself," she says. "It's never too late to start again."

A 47-year-old mother and grandmother who lives in Cowallmoor Lane, Lask Edge, Julie was a Royal Doulton gilder for 15 years before she began to read the writing on the wall.

"I left before I was handed a redundancy notice, but I felt the company was slowly disintegrating and it was distressing to watch it happening," says Julie.

"We'd actually been teaching our skills to Indonesians."

Being asked to collaborate in the export of her own job was one reason why Julie took the plunge and sought her fortune elsewhere.

It came down to a choice between a new career in nursing and "allowing my creative side to take over."

Deciding that art was more important to her, she chose the latter, and after studying at Newcastle College, she graduated in fine art at Staffordshire University. It was at university that she met another Julie, 41-year-old conceptual artist Julie Newbold, who now lives with her partner and two children in Chapel Street, Forsbrook.

Julie Newbold had been a fettler at the Wedgwood factory in Barlaston, where the other Julie trained as a gilder.

It turned out that the two Julies shared the same dream of setting up a place where artists could come together in a commune or collective.

The result is Art Waves, a studio, gallery and workshop in Nile Street, Burslem, only yards from the remains of the old Royal Doulton factory, which soon became a hothouse of creative talent.

Artists working in various media now form part of a collective that creates and exhibits works of art, as well as taking art into the community, notably to local schools.

Like the two Julies, some of the artists are former pottery workers seeking new outlets for creativity nurtured in the ceramics industry.

Located in the former weighbridge offices of the old Sneyd Colliery, Art Waves has members working in painting, pottery, sculpture, photography and other media, and is the driving force behind the Burslem Art Festival.

"I followed my dream and feel that I've been released to do something I feel I am really good at," says Julie Gould.

"I am making a living doing something that is important to me."

Both women urge others in the pottery industry to have confidence in themselves, re-train and start again if they lose their jobs.

"They should look at the strengths they have within themselves and find the training and education to suit what is important to them," said Julie Gould.

"Decide what you really want to do and put your heart and soul into it. And remember that you'll work better if your enjoy what you are doing.

"The main thing is that it's never too late to start over."