A CHANGE of career for a Flintshire man has brought recognition with a prestigious award in his new field.

Former high-flying businessman and award-winning sports coach Gary Bassett put his talents – and Lego – to good use during lockdown.

When a group of young people in his care faced possible frustration at seeing their activities severely restricted, Gary knew exactly what to do.

His skill in communicating with the lads and keeping them occupied led to his being shortlisted for one of this year’s Wales Care Awards.

The awards are organised by Care Forum Wales to recognise outstanding work in the care sector.

Gary, from Mold, received a silver award in the category for residential support worker, sponsored by Christie and Co.

The ceremony took place in City Hall, Cardiff, when the host was the popular tenor and radio presented Wynne Evans, well-known as Gio Compario in the Go Compare TV adverts. The evening was sponsored by Ontex UK.

Gary, 49, is a team leader at Pant Glas Uchaf care home, near Ruthin, which accommodates about six youngsters, some with complex behavioural problems.

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The home is part of the Caretech company, and it is deputy manager Claire Howard who has nominated Gary for one of this year’s Wales Care Awards.

Gary has worked at Pant Glas for about five years but has a wealth of experience in business and in dealing with young people.

For 10 years he was human resources director for Lego, responsible for central and southern Europe. But he gave that up to launch his own sports coaching company A-Star Sports Ltd, a franchise which grew to cover much of the country.

He has always been interested in sports and in 2014 was named as coach of the year for Cheshire West and Chester.

He decided on yet another change of direction and immediately took to his new role at Pant Glas, forever finding new ways of keeping the youths occupied after listening to their wishes.

“There is a huge amount of trust in Gary from management to the staff team and the young people,” said Claire.

“The effort that Gary goes to means that the boys get a fantastic mix of choosing their own activities and trying new things, developing their abilities and widening their experience.”

Claire and her colleagues were particularly impressed by the work Gary did with one of the home’s more challenging teenagers who, as a result of the support and encouragement he received, left Pant Glas having had a job and college placement.

When the pandemic curtailed many activities Gary managed to keep the boys as active as possible, bring in his own extensive collection of Lego to help keep them motivated.

“Without Gary the lockdown would have had a much more negative impact on the health and well-being of the young people,” said Claire.

Gary said his experience in organising activities for children during school holidays had proved very useful at Pant Glas and he thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.