Two women who were made redundant have used their pay-off to start up their own business in Braintree.

Jan Sheen and Elaine Tyrell have started up Simply Stone Jewellery at the Victoria Street Shopping Village after the jewellery shop they worked in at Freeport closed.

Mrs Sheen, of Coggeshall, said: “We are two older ladies that have never signed on and we just wanted to take on a business ourselves.

“The redundancy came as quite a shock to us and we are just trying to pull ourselves up. We sell jewellery with semi-precious stones and still buy some of the stock from the old company.”

The shop is open on Tuesdays and Fridays and the pair also sell their wares online.