A HAMPSHIRE mum has swapped the high seas for housework after launching her own domestic cleaning business.

Sue Mark, who spent 21 years in the Royal Navy, has started a Hedge End franchise of Bright and Beautiful and is looking for staff.

The 43-year-old, pictured below, who joined the Royal Navy in 1990 was one of the first women in the UK to undertake the same training as her male colleagues.

She rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer and was responsible for maintaining and fixing electrical equipment such as the ship’s radars and command system.

Mum-of-two Sue, who saw active service aboard the destroyer HMS Liverpool off Libya in 2011, left the Navy in 2012 and now lives with her family in Gosport..

She took a job as an engineering consultant and completed a degree in engineering management but realised she wanted to use the “softer skills” she had learned in the Navy.

“I’m a people person and love getting to know people,” said Sue.

She was keen to find a franchise business to run which had low start-up costs and didn’t require a premises and Bright & Beautiful fitted the bill.

Sue was impressed that the franchise using only non-toxic and eco-friendly cleaning products.

The new business be creating a number of jobs – Sue has five cleaners on her books at the moment but needs many more as they work in teams of three for a more efficient service.

“When we go to a house everyone has an area they are responsible for and that way we can get a really good job done,” Sue explained.

Staff can work flexible hours but will have a proper contract and receive pay for travel time between jobs and a mileage allowance.

Sue says: “A career in the Royal Navy is very possibly the best training I could have had for running a housekeeping business as everything on a ship has to be absolutely in its place and as clean as a whistle!

“Starting my own Bright & Beautiful business is all about wanting to make a difference and to improve lives – from doing a great job for my clients who value their time, to training my team of housekeepers to be the best in class, to being able to build a business that allows me to enjoy my own work and home life equally.”

For more information call Sue on 01489 669478.