Rhys, 23, Waterstones, Cardiff

I won it because I am engaging with the health and welfare services too, as well as hitting my sales targets and having a reliable attitude to my job.

It hasn’t always been that way though. When I first started, I would sell for maybe one day, then not come back for a month because I was trying to sort myself out.

I came down to Cardiff from Abertillery. I had been living with my girlfriend and our kid there, but we split up and then I didn’t have anywhere to live.
My family are still in Abertillery and I speak to my nan regularly on the phone. She’s my nan on my mum’s side and I’m going to pop up and see her at Christmas time.

There was never much to do up there, but me and the boys used to go fishing. There are a couple of ponds up there and a river and we used to catch trout. If they were big enough, we’d take them home for dinner.

Because I am committed to what I am doing and because I work hard, I have been awarded three blue pitches recently, too. These pitches are very sought-after by the sellers because they are in areas where more people can be expected to come past every week.

I now have a very strong work attitude, but before all this I had always wanted to be a carpenter. I was going to go and do carpentry in college, but I got mixed up. I got myself on heroin until a couple of months ago. I’m on the methadone now and that is helping me to stabilise and to sort my life out. After a bit they are going to help me to gradually cut down on it. When I am ready, I am going to go back and do my carpentry.

I don’t see my little girl at the moment because her mother is waiting to see how I get on with getting clean before she will let me see her again. She’s four now and in school. Hopefully it won’t be too long now before I will be able to start seeing her again.

Rhys was talking to Jane Oriel