Some truly astounding Adult Learners
19/05/2008
As Adult Learner's Week kicks off from May 17th-23rd, winners of the various senior awards have been announced. But behind the awards lie truly astounding stories of overcoming hardship to learn, serving as an inspiration to us all - no matter what our age or background...
Anthony Spelman, from Oldham, left school at 15 with no qualifications and the belief that he had a "non-existent ability to learn and lived his life accordingly." Suffering from bouts of depression, a nervous episode in his late 40s and 50s culminated in a condition which was eventually diagnosed as Tourettes Syndrome.
Facing panic attacks, there were times he would not leave the house or get out of bed.But just three years ago Anthony turned his life around and found confidence after taking a series of beginners’ courses in computing, which led him to enroll on an NVQ Level 2 course for computer users - and volunteer for Age Concern. He said: “Learning has made a dramatic change in my life. My social life has increased and my confidence levels have reached to a height that I have never experienced in my entire life."
Beverly Gull, from King Sutton, was a disabled child growing up in the 1950s and 60s. She said: “At that time, being disabled meant that education was not deemed important. From the age of 10-14 I spent most of my life in hospital, where there were no teachers or any form of stimulation. My mother died when I was 14, so I was expected to help my father care for my three brothers. In short, there was very little opportunity to study during my childhood."
Later on she spent many years attending evening classes to make up for her limited education, but the turning point came when she had a car accident in 1981 - after which she took up swimming as part of her rehabilitation. Four years later she was successful in representing Great Britain and is now a retired Paralympic medallist.
Her interest in sports photography grew from this passion, and she gained the courage to take up a BA in Photography. Currently she has photographed Paralympians training for Beijing for her final year exhibition, has covered many large sporting events - and intends to cover the Beijing Olympics. Beverley concluded: “Completing my BA was a wrong put right for me. Nobody should be denied an education and everybody should be encouraged to achieve to the best of their ability”.
And Jack Lewis, who left school at 14 with a very basic eduction decided to learn Russian as a nonagenarian - making him one of the oldest language learners in the country. Jack’s interest in Russian began in the 1980s when he visited the country with his wife. Rarely missing a year without visiting, he usually attended a university summer school and was one of the organisers of a charity event which involved cycling from St Petersburg to Moscow to raise money for an orphanage in the capital.
Rachel Thomson, Senior Campaigns Officer at NIACE, said, "In spite of the fact this is the 17th annual Adult Learners' Week, we continue to be amazed by the quality of the nominations we receive. Jack's story is an indication of how learning can transform lives completely. All of this year's winners have shown a huge commitment, passion and creativity throughout their learning journeys, and their achievements are all the more inspiring due to the challenges they have overcome.
They fully deserve to be recognised as outstanding and inspirational adult learners."
Events for Adult Learners' Week, 17th–23rd May 2008, are listed in the interactive online calendar at the website below, where you can search by keyword, your preferred date and by the region you live in.
Or call Learn Direct free on 0800 100 900 to find Adult Learners’
Week events local to you.