A JOHNSTONE businesswoman has a spring in her step as she prepares to open her theatre school for the first time in months.

Ashley Gardner, who runs A.G. Theatre School, in the town’s Macdowall Street, was left twiddling her thumbs when lockdown restrictions forced her to close the doors.

However, she quickly put her new-found spare time to good use by moving the business online and taking the bold step of expanding and renovating her studios.

Ashley, 29, also took on a vital NHS role and even found time to put on garden gigs with her partner Graeme Kerr for neighbours during the warm days of summer.

She now has her sights firmly set on April 26, when she will be allowed to welcome students back to her theatre school.

Ashley told The Gazette: “Many times we have faced the real possibility of having to close our doors for good. Sadly, we know many other dance schools have had to do that.

“Nevertheless, we have hung on and are beyond excited to be able to reopen on April 26. The kids are desperate to get back and we’ve managed to retain a good 90 per cent of our student base.

“Hopefully, this will be the last big step and things can just start to move forward from this point on.”

After being forced to shut the doors of her business in March last year, uncertain of its future and keen to do her bit, Ashley took on a job at Gartnavel Hospital, in Glasgow’s West End.

Her role, which lasted until July, involved ‘plugging gaps’ and covering for staff who were off sick.

As a result, she ended up turning her hand to everything from domestic work and co-ordinating wards to helping out in the kitchen and serving meals to patients.

She did all this while also moving her business online, providing Zoom sessions and creating a hub of activities, including a choreography unit for older students, to ensure no-one missed out while they were stuck at home.

Although it has been a tough time, Ashley insists the experience of helping out at Gartnavel was a life lesson she’ll never forget.

“Not much scares me,” she said. “Being self-employed will do that to you.

“You could tell something was going on but, generally, everyone in the hospital was cracking on and doing what needed to be done, which fitted my personality.

“It got to the point [due to Covid] where you would be on a ward and you couldn’t enter certain rooms and then you could. Things could change in a minute.

“It was about trying to move with what was happening because we were finding out new information all of the time and adapting, which I applied to my business as well – right can’t come to the studio, well we’ll get creative online and need to work even harder.

“The one thing I can take away from this is - you can’t take things for granted, because it won’t take much for it to be taken from you.”