Wilmslow resident Mark Shields, a very happily married man, has always provided for his family so when redundancy resulted in the loss of his £35,000 job, along with the car, pension, healthcare, laptop and phone it hit him very hard.
Mark set himself a target of twelve weeks to get back into work, which he felt was possible. He then set himself a goal of six months, unfortunately he has just passed the twelve month stage.
In December Mark took part in the filming of a documentary Famous, Rich and Jobless for the BBC which explores joblessness in Britain today and will be shown in two parts next week. The documentary follows the emotional journey of four celebrities for whom unemployment becomes a chilling reality.
Actor Larry Lamb, from Gavin & Stacey and Eastenders, model turned mechanic Emma Parker Bowles, interior designer Meg Matthews and television gardener Diarmiud Gavin put unemployment in the spotlight by agreeing to swap their fame and fortune for a world of joblessness, job-hunting and surviving on the poverty line.
With everything they value stripped away, some old clothes and just under £10 a day to live on, they spend eight days discovering what it’s really like to be jobless in the UK today.
They are guided and assisted by Emma Harrison, founder of A4e, the largest employment agency in the world, and Craig Last, a former youth worker for the charity Centrepoint, who’s helped many homeless young people find jobs.
The second part of the documentary sees the four celebrities continue to learn about the realities of unemployment as they move in with an unemployed buddy and try to encourage their new friends to go out and find work.
Mark is joined by Larry Lamb who turns relationship counsellor and recruitment advisor, in an attempt to help get Mark out of his depression and back into employment.
Mark said "You lose everything. I have a weekly budget, which we just cannot go over. All treats for my son have gone, how do you explain that to an 8 year old?
"Before I knew where I was, I am in a life of benefits, a really viscious circle, and hard to take when I have so much pride. I saw an advert for the BBC regarding the filming of a programme about unemployment, and the issues which go along with it. We never knew there was a celebrity involved until 4 weeks before."
The second part of Famous Rich and Jobless was filmed in December, over four days. Mark explained "We were in total shock when Larry Lamb knocked on the door, but he very soon became part of the family. Over the 4 days he also became a really good friend, and was a true father figure.
"It was just so nice to have someone put their arm around me and say you’re doing well son. He spent time with my son Jack and treated me and my wife Maria to a take away. Larry has been fantastic, he gave me his number and said to call him if I feel down at any time or he can help. He also calls us on a regular basis, a truly fantastic man."
Looking back at this experience Mark said; "I feel that as a family we have gained a more positive attitude, being involved in the documentary has picked us up when we needed it. It also gave me the piece of mind that I am not a scrounger and I am trying hard and one day I will get my job with the added benefits again. I only hope the programme gets enough publicity to further push my mission because all I want is a job and to get my life back."
The first part of Famous, Rich and Jobless can be seen on Tuesday March 9th, BBC1 at 9pm with the second installment, featuring Mark Shields on the following evening, again at 9pm.
We will be catching up with Mark after the show has been televised to hear his thoughts on the programme and how he feels those involved have helped him in his struggle to find a new job.
Mark has attached his CV, just incase any one can help. Do let us know your thoughts on Famous, Rich and Jobless via the comment box below. I know Mark would love to hear them.
Photos:
Top: Emily Lawson, Martin Shields, Larry Lamb, Dominic Longmuir and Maria Shields.
Middle: Larry Lamb, Diarmiud Gavin, Meg Matthews and Emma Parker Bowles.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I found it has really helped to get the media on board, I have an interview with Heather Stott, on BBC Radio Manchester tomorrow at 11.10 am, so once again thank you so much.
The other thing I want to highlight is a massive failing with the Government and jobcentres where they will not simply "freeze" jobseekers allowance for those who want to take short-term temporary work. As the rules stand if you accept a temporary job you have to sign off benefits and when that ends and you are unemployed again you have to go through the red tape procedure of applying for jobseekers allowance all over again as if you were a brand new applicant.
This really puts benefit claimants including Myself off accepting any temporary work because of all the beaurocracy. If you can just "freeze" your current on-going claim for the period of the temporary work and immediately re-commence on it's cessation with no detailed form-filling or fresh jobcentre interview this would save the Government millions by getting jobless to accept such work which they now often turn down for that very reason.
You are obviously a genuine person who wants to support his family, and your wife is a great support to you, but that doesn't take the feeling of failure away, you are not a scrounger.
If you watched the programme and saw the family with 7 children, neither parent employed or likely to be, kids running riot with no discipline or likely to have, can you imagine what the future holds for them? The kids will be on benefit when they get older as well because they are quite happy to be. The father has no need to work as he has over 5 hundred a week coming in in benefit.
At least you have instilled in your son the importance of providing for a family, the pride and the dignity that gives you. You will get there, chin up.
As a family we have taken a big chance to go public, but I was stopped numerous times this morning by total stramgers saying well done.
We were quite happy but so much was not shown, i.e. my issues with Job Centre Plus and my letter of apology from the DWP for failings at Wilmslow Job Centre.
I will be contacting Lisa to do a follow up feature, and once again thank you all very much. Mark, Maria, Jack xx