AS ONE door closes another opens and this has never been better demonstrated than by Abertillery's Suzanne Griffiths.

Last April she was made redundant by supermarket operator Kwik Save. But rather than crying into her shandy, she found a new day job in the pharmacy at Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, and devoted her evenings to re-opening a run-down nightclub in Abertillery.

In July, Suzanne and her partner Paul McCarte re-opened The Palace nightclub as live music venue The Arena.

Since then the venue has become an important part of the valley town's social scene with an under-18s disco every Thursday, a live band every Friday and Community First classes in music industry skills.

This Friday the venue is hosting a visit from the original members of legendary rock band White Snake.

Suzanne said: "Paul and I know how little there is for young people around here and one of our DJs, Paul Davies, is a youth co-ordinator for Blaenau Gwent. "Together we looked for ways to get young people involved."

Taking on a club is no mean feat for a person with no experience.

Suzanne has worked behind a bar in the past, and Paul can sort out the sound - a music industry professional, he's currently out on Goldie Lookin' Chain's UK tour as sound engineer.

But it still required a giant leap of faith. "We spent a couple of months in negotiations with the police and other groups as the club had a history of problems and we wanted to find a better way to collaborate and move forward."