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https://www.positive.news/society/anybody-work-behind-the-scenes-at-londons-first-all-female-garage/>
"At the end of a quiet, leafy lane in Finchley, north London, is a hive of
activity. It’s the middle of the working day at Spanners With Manners, which as
its sign proudly declares is London’s first all-female garage. The smells of
coffee, rubber and oil mingle as mechanics scurry about, shouting questions,
jokes and instructions to each other. The office – a garden shed set back from
the garage – is fiercely manned by guard dogs: a dachshund and two Jack
Russell-chihuahua mixes. On the wall is, incongruently, a signed photo of Rod
Stewart.
“Oh, he’s a really good mate of my mum’s neighbour,” says Laura Kennedy
nonchalantly. Laura, the founder of Spanners With Manners, runs it with her
wife Siobhan. “[The neighbour and Rod Stewart] grew up together. Last time he
saw him, he got him to sign that photo for us.” Stewart isn’t the only
celebrity to have a connection to the business – the actor and producer Sadie
Frost teamed up with them in 2020 to make a charity calendar.
So how did Spanners With Manners become the celeb-endorsed female powerhouse it
is today? “I had another garage before this, and when it started to get busy, I
phoned the local college for an apprentice,” says Kennedy. “They happened to
send us four girls. I didn’t ask for girls. But one of them was fantastic, I
was like: ‘Right, she’s staying’.” The man Kennedy rented the garage space from
then sold it, so she and Siobhan – who had recently started dating – looked for
a new premises. The Finchley garage was available, and the rest is history.
“We went from strength to strength,” Kennedy says. “We’ve never had to
advertise for staff. The colleges find out about us online and they’ll phone us
and say: ‘We’ve got a girl here. Can you give her a shot?’ We’ve never had a
man call up for a job. We wouldn’t be against it, but it just hasn’t happened.”
The pair talk of creating a warm, welcoming and non-judgmental environment for
all customers, but particularly for women for whom the male-dominated
traditional garage environment can feel intimidating.
The fact that there are enough female trainee mechanics for the firm to have
its pick of staff is an indicator of how much things have changed since Kennedy
trained as a mechanic with Porsche 15 years ago. She left school at 16 and
started working in admin within the motor trade, but struggled due to her
dyslexia. Realising a hands-on job would suit her better, she enrolled at
college at the age of 23. “Everyone else on the course was a 17-year-old boy,
fighting over mopeds and girlfriends,” she remembers. “It was like being in a
boys’ school.”
Nowadays, 16-year-olds must either stay in full time education, start an
apprenticeship or combine part-time work with education. Kennedy thinks schools
should talk to pupils, particularly girls, about their future options in the
years leading up to this point, clarifying that taking up a trade isn’t an
option for boys alone. There is still progress to be made before we reach that
point, though."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
