A martial arts expert who drew up a business plan while living on the streets has transformed his life.
Gavin Eastham, 36, fell into tough times after a back injury saw him lose his job and home.
Despite being left homeless he refused to give up on a dream to start his own firm - studying business strategy at Flint Library during the day while battling to find shelter each night.
The tactic paid off and Gavin was eventually able to set up his martial arts academy, Cobra Life CIC, now headquartered in Shotton.
He is now a role model for other struggling and vulnerable people and has just been presented with a top award from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner.
Talking about the difficult period in his life, Gavin said: “To be honest I was in a mess.
“For a number of reasons and changes in my personal circumstances my life had crumbled.
“I’d suffered a back injury, was registered disabled, lost my job and finally lost my home. I ended up living on the streets, but as down as I was, I knew I had to somehow get myself back on my feet.
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“It was the strangest existence – by night I’d focus my full attention on keeping warm and finding some sort of shelter while living homeless, but by day I’d head straight to the library to study business strategy.”
He added: “I’d had various jobs in the past but the only one I had any real qualifications in was martial arts.
“I’d previously run my own martial arts classes but this time I knew I wanted to do it differently.
“I wanted to do it in a way that really gave something back to the community which has supported me.
“I didn’t just want to create an assembly line of ‘terminators’ good at punching and kicking, but to focus on the philosophies at the root of accomplished martial arts like improving confidence, concentration and self-discipline. That’s how I came up with our Success for Life project.”
Police commissioner Arfon Jones praised Gavin’s company, Cobra Life CIC, for its innovative Success for Life project designed to up-skill children and parents in dealing with problems and emergency situations in a way that avoids escalation and aggression.
He said: “The overall social mission of Cobra Life is to improve lives in the local community and reduce the number of victims of crimes of aggression, which, of course, also helps our police.
“Such schemes can only help make our society safer and I’m thrilled to be able to present an award to such a forward-thinking enterprise.”