A Calne mum who was made redundant last year has embraced her new career as a dog groomer and is about to embark on her first competition.

Add to that winning a monthly grooming award in April and redundancy isn’t looking so bad for Karen Lofthouse.

The 37-year-old, of London Road, was a qualified chef and worked at Invensys Rail, in Chippenham, before redundancy struck in October.

She was already working towards her dog grooming qualifications and the bad news gave her the push she needed to set up Ulti-Mutt Dog Grooming.

She said: “I was made redundant in October and by that point I was already doing a bit of grooming part time.

“I was planning to go for it full-time but was probably going to wait another 12 months or so, to build up a bigger client base.

“But I was pushed into taking the step immediately. I got my diploma and set up properly in December, just in time for the Christmas rush.”

She runs the business from a converted garden house, with help from 17-year-old daughter Chloe-Beth.

And things have just got better and better for the pair this year. In April they won the Groomers Salon spotlight award and next weekend they take part in a contest run by the English Groomers Group.

Mrs Lofthouse said: “My first competition takes place in Kent and I’m taking one of my clients, a little Scottish terrier called Jesse.

“I will have to groom him live at the event and then my efforts will be judged.

“This will be my first ever live competition – hopefully I will be good enough to at least get a place.”