AN AWARD-winning cobbler about to hang up his hammer hopes the business can provide a beacon of hope for someone -- as it once did for him.

Ken Redman, 64, plans to retire from his shoe repair business in Briercliffe Road, Burnley, and wants the business to continue after he leaves.

But without anyone to take over, Ken and his wife Rosemary, 59, who works alongside her husband doing bookkeeping and administration, are having to advertise the position in local church magazines.

Ken hopes it will bring someone the same success it brought him.

He said: "I'm just coming to the end of 19 years here. I got into this because I had been made redundant. I had been a wood machiner at G Plan Furniture at Nelson.

"My back was against the wall and I could see my redundancy coming. I was 43 and asking who would employ me."

Rosemary then had an idea: the shoe repairer further down Briercliffe Road, a Mr Everett, had just died, leaving the area without a shoe repairer. She suggested it to her husband.

"I went to the job centre to see if there was a course," said Ken. "And locally the only one going was at Rossendale College. But now there are no such courses so the only way to learn the trade is through someone like me."

And since he started he has never looked back, winning numerous awards, including both the Meltonian Experts in Shoe Care British Shoe Repair Craftsman of the Year and a bronze in the International Schumacher awards in 1998 and President's Repair Challenge Shield in 1993.

Ken added: "You get a lot of work satisfaction from this and I had always wanted to work for myself. When this chap comes in to get these boots he will say what a good job has been done."

Ken wants a very special individual to take over and buy up his business, which he hopes to sell for around £69,950 and includes living accommodation of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a lounge and dining room.

"It has to be a person who is interested in people," he explained. "A person who likes to please others and works well with their hands. They don't have to have academic qualifications."

Rosemary added: "We would prefer someone in their 30s or 40s who has been made redundant and would want a complete change.

"They would also have to do ordering of stock and bookkeeping and would need to buy the business maybe with their redundancy pay. "

In retirement the couple hope to spend more time on their barge -- Woodstock -- and Ken may add to the numerous courses he has taken at Burnley College. So far these include bricklaying, which he did with Rosemary, antique furniture restoration, plastering and cabinet-making.

The couple, who now live above the shop, are currently using their construction skills to finish work on a house on Ennismore Street where they will move when someone takes over the shop.

But if there is a quick sale Ken said they would move on to their barge.

The couple also hope to spend more time with their daughters, neither of whom want to become cobblers.

Anyone interested in taking over the business can contact Ken or Rosemary on 01282 411405.