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HOWARD WALKER FOR THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS. ORDERED. 10TH DECEMBER 2001. PICTURE SHOWS CAROL MELIA WHO OWNS AND RUNS GRAFTON HOUSE SCHOOL IN ASHTON, HERE WITH SON BRADLEY, AGED 8, WHO ATTENDS THE SCHOOL.
HOWARD WALKER FOR THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS. ORDERED. 10TH DECEMBER 2001. PICTURE SHOWS CAROL MELIA WHO OWNS AND RUNS GRAFTON HOUSE SCHOOL IN ASHTON, HERE WITH SON BRADLEY, AGED 8, WHO ATTENDS THE SCHOOL.
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Moving from class to glass

by chris barry
22/12/2005

BUSINESSWOMAN Carole Melia has set her sights on a new sector - replacement glass.

Carole, 41, who set up a prep school and a nursery chain in Ashton-under- Lyne after being unable to find a suitable school for her sick son, was led into the glazing business by accident.

"I had a chain of four nurseries, one was based on a main road in Droylsden and it was forever being hit by vandals.

"I kept getting calls at night that windows had been smashed and my experience of the boarding-up companies was somewhat erratic.

"You may be waiting for hours and then receive an massive bill."

Such frustration got the mother of three, from Hollingworth, thinking about a new venture.

"I had a friend in the construction business and we talked it over for ages and decided to give it a go," Carole says.

That was four years ago and the company now has a string of big-name customers, including Costa Coffee, Barclays, Whitbread and the police.

Still based out of a small unit in Droylsden, 0845 Glassman, as her business is called now employs 10 people and turns over £500,000 a year.

"I really enjoy what I do. I never had experience in education - it was my interest in my children that took me to that area, my background was in finance. I have done a lot of research and the replacement glazing market is worth something like £18bn. It is a good and lucrative business."

Carole says the business can no longer cope with demand, and has now launched a franchise programme to grow the business.

"We looked at subcontracting the work, but that was no good and I wondered how I was going to grow the business. We spoke to a lot of people and decided franchising the business was the way to go. We are advertising it in the new year.

"There is no other company like Glassman. I spent a day with the man who founded Dyno-rod and he was convinced it is the right thing for us to do."
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