WHEN dry stone waller Lawrence Staley took up glass engraving as a hobby 18 years ago, he never dreamt it would turn into a business.

Today, thanks partly to the internet, his skills are in demand and his wife, Joan, has a full time job as administrative and marketing officer for their business, Teesdale Glass Engravers.

And, again thanks to the internet, business is growing so much that Mr Staley is gradually managing to swap his hard outdoor life for a physically less demanding one.

Mrs Staley previously worked in a local building society but, when the branch closed, she decided to see if there was a market for her husband's exquisite glass products. Four years on, business is thriving, with items ranging from trinket boxes to engraved windows and from tumblers to vases.

Commissions vary hugely and include wedding and anniversary gifts as well as corporate items such as trophies and leaving presents. Pictures feature everything from a favourite pet to a place or an historic building.

"Almost from the beginning I was keen to have a web site," said Mrs Staley, but she kept putting it off as she knew little about technology and, as they had not got a digital camera, the cost of professional photography was too high to be used regularly.

Eventually she went on a course through the Enterprise Agency, which helped her to design a micro web site for the business. That site was on the Barnard Castle web portal, set up for local businesses, visitors and residents who required information about the area.

It was such a success that she gained enough confidence to design the business's own web site, www.teesdaleglassengravers.co.uk.

Some funding was received via the electronic community for the North-East, www.n-e-life.com, in particular through an on-line initiative called Grow Your Business (GROW), supported by the European Regional Development Fund and One NorthEast.

GROW is helping small businesses across the region to make better use of internet technology and offers a range of support packages and funding, including access to free entry-level support, training and software to enable them to set up a basic web site or a simple virtual store. There is also a reduced rate broadband service.

"I knew we needed a web site that we could update ourselves on a regular basis," said Mrs Staley, "but I soon found that a lot of design companies charge very high rates for alterations. Eventually I found a designer which would build in the technology to allow us to do our own updates.

"Since our site has been up and running I change it almost daily to include photos of new pieces of work, or to add and remove exhibition and sale dates. This is done in minutes."

The web site has all but replaced their catalogue. "This has proved a huge bonus as catalogues are both costly and date extremely quickly," said Mrs Staley.

She rarely finds a problem in referring people to the web site. Many older people are on-line or have family who are. The web site is now gearing up to take money on-line, although many customers still prefer to pay by cheque.

The company is a member of the "Made in Teesdale" Group which includes a lot of craft businesses.

Norma Foster, general manager of n-e-life.com, urged small businesses interested in the GROW project to apply for funding. Full details from 0191 213 0788 or at www.n-e-commerce.com/GROW