Welcome!

If you are reading this, then a big welcome to Eddie Gamble Web Design Services! Here is the story of the long journey of how I got here, and the many more miles in years to come that I’ll be taking.

Introduction

From a young age I have always had an interest in computers. It was a very different age in the late 90s – websites were few and far between, you were happy if you had a mobile with snake or other games on it and you were lucky if your family could afford a computer at all. And if they did you had to wait for ages for a dial up connection !

Thankfully those days have gone. I always had an interest in designing websites and in 2011 I decided to go and learn more by participating in a night course in Dreamweaver at Cambridge Regional College.

First Time

During the introduction course I launched my first website- Alterations by Jacqueline Kay. Jacqueline is a local business woman with an alterations shop in St Neots and she wanted a website to let customers contact her via emails, to set out her services and to display and update prices. The ‘pink site’ as it was referred to by my course leader Sam! After launching the website, I built up my blogging skills using the popular CMS platform called WordPress.

Jacqueline’s site transferred last year onto WordPress.

By now I had set up a football site called ‘Target Man’ and was regularly blogging and vlogging as well as building up a social media footprint.

Turning Point

I was introduced to the people behind the Daxtonbury Festival , a local charity music festival. After 8 years, they wanted to take the festival to another level and knew that this could only be achieved with a good website. They also wanted to extend the opportunity to buy tickets online. The job was mine.

By now it was 2016, a year of so many changes for me, including a house move and the sale of my childhood home. Throughout this, I was working hard on the website and keeping Dave from Daxtonbury informed as he was travelling in South East Asia. When he returned in March, the site was nearly ready!

In May, I had just moved to St Ives and went back to clear the attic of our old home with Mum, Dave, and my sister Charly. This was also the day when the site was going live and there were a few moments of panic amidst the discovery of some old toys, and through it all I was wondering how the site would come out.

Then the moment, the files hitting the world wide web and the moment of truth. When I looked on my desktop, it was pretty much how I expected, the big test for me was the responsiveness (mobile and tablet).

I checked the phone first and shouted out happily “bloody hell”. The others looked and were impressed, particularly Dave. Then he contacted Dax (the organiser) and he was full of praise. Since then he has given me the opportunity to revamp his business website for Wold Farm Fisheries. I was bitten with the bug.

I began to think I could do this for a job. I was lucky enough to meet the fabulous Jason Kahl who is a web designer and produces fantastic sites . Jason has acted as a mentor and sounding board for me.

Although I wanted to go into the industry, I felt I should learn more before I did, or even take some voluntary work for a company.

Go For It!

This never materialised so I was back at college discussing the possibility of attending another course, the tutor of that course said that i was now ready to go it alone and driving back, I knew he was right.

So that is where I’m at today.

First Year

Although I have a only few sites in my portfolio, I have been happy that the sites for my clients have met their purpose and they are all thriving. Jackie has been kept busy in the shop, A lot of keen people are visiting Wold Farm Fisheries and the Daxtonbury Festival now is in its eleventh year and getting more popular, with increasing audience size, greater public profile, and raising money for charity. Last year they gave £10,000 to local medical charities.

Of course this is just the beginning of the adventure and there will be plenty of challenges and tasks to be met in the years to come. However I’m blessed to have so many family members and friends that have been encouraging me to do this and sending well wishes.

I say thanks to you all and I will be looking forward to creating more web sites and providing services to people, being a partner with them in helping their businesses to thrive and grow.

Happy Browsing!

Eddie x

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.