Jude Morrison was sitting in her favourite French bar with a group of friends when inspiration struck.

During a conversation about retired footballers' second careers, a pal asked what she would do if she could change jobs. "I said upholstery - just like that," she said over coffee at her home in Tadcaster Road, York. "To this day I have no idea why I said it, but I knew it was right as soon as it came out of my mouth."

At the time she was working for the NHS, her employer for many years. She had been a GP's assistant, had worked for North Yorkshire Health Authority and had helped to set up York's first walk-in clinic in Monkgate.

"I wasn't crazy about my job, I didn't hate it either though, it just wasn't massively challenging," she explained. "Setting up the clinic was interesting, but I knew it was only a short-term project. When it was completed, it was make or break time."

Her decision to break away won the wholehearted support of her husband Steve, 46, owner of Mor Music in Fossgate, and children Miles, 13, and Callum, nine. The first step was a City & Guilds upholstery course at York College.

"The furniture restoration department staff proved to be exceptionally knowledgeable, welcoming and humorous," she said. "And the upholstery tutor, while demanding the highest standards of work, created an encouraging, productive workshop environment."

It must have been very encouraging because Jude not only passed parts I and II of the course, she also collected the John Tate & Co Award for Excellence along the way. It was then that her tutor asked if she had ever considered teaching.

"I said I hadn't, but why the heck not," she said. "My confidence was high and I was ready for another challenge."

When she actually started her teacher training course however, she wondered whether the challenge might be too daunting.

"I was very scared because I thought it was going to be chock full of people with more degrees than you could shake a stick at," she said.

"I left school at 17 - back in the Seventies people didn't expect much more.

"I suppose I always had quite a fear of education, but I have learned that it can be an interesting personal journey. Now I know that if I want to do something, I can."

Jude now takes private commissions while completing her Adult Teaching Certificate at York College and teaching upholstery at Leeds College of Art & Design.

"I just hope that I can inspire my students to strive for excellence as the tutors at York inspired me," she said. "My job is not about standing at the front of a classroom and talking. It's very much a hands-on course, with one-to-one tuition.

"I was absolutely terrified before my first class - I didn't sleep a wink for about three nights before it - but I overcame the fear and have learned to enjoy it. I certainly wouldn't be afraid of another change of direction now."

Ultimately she would like to take on a specialist restoration project at a major site like Castle Howard.

"I don't just want to reupholster modern three-piece suites," she said. "For me, traditional skills are essential - I'm a bit of a Luddite I suppose."

Jude seems genuinely surprised by her success, but is not surprised by the way her family has rallied round.

"If you had said five years ago that I would be teaching upholstery now, I would have pointed to the pigs flying past," she said. "To be honest, I put a lot of what I have achieved down to my husband. He has been very supportive throughout and has never expected me to do it all. He and the boys have proved once and for all that they know where the oven is."

Her enthusiasm is infectious. After a quick chat with Jude you are ready to take on the world - or at least a correspondence course in French conversation.

"If you get the chance, go for it," she said. "We are only here once so don't let a chance pass you by. You don't want to get to 80 and think I wish I had done this or that. Do it now. I know some people can't afford to fol-low their dreams, but sometimes you have to ask if you can afford not to."

Jude is not alone in opting for a mid-life career change. Lots of her friends are also doing degrees or teacher training courses.

"It was different for us in the Seventies. The assumption was always that a job was something you did to fill the time before having children," she said. "Now young women expect to go to university, to earn their own money and be independent.

"Unfortunately, there is always the chance that modern women will shoot themselves in the foot. We say we want it all, but it usually just means we end up doing it all. My advice is: don't do it all, do what you love."

For more information about courses available at York College, phone 01904 770400.

Updated: 12:44 Tuesday, December 10, 2002