Wokingham

A special award ceremony took place on May 26, as part of National Adult Learners’ Week, to celebrate the achievements and successes of a number of adult learners from the Wokingham district who have overcome great personal challenges.

Held for the second year running, the Learner Challenge Awards were organised jointly by Wokingham District Council’s cultural services and the Wokingham Learning Partnership.
District council chairman Cllr Angus Ross joined the learners from across the district to celebrate their success and gave the opening speech welcoming the learners, their mentors and visitors to the council.

Four community projects were awarded prizes of £250, while 16 individual learners* from across the district were also presented with certificates and prizes by Peter Tubb, chairman of the Wokingham Learning Partnership, at a special ceremony held at the civic offices in Wokingham.

Chief executive of the Campaign for Learning Linda Siegle gave a speech to the winners and Jenny Williams from National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) talked about the challenges of adult and community learning.

Wokingham-based Yasmin Miller, a European Social Fund award winner, gave a presentation on her learning experiences. She received her national award for her remarkable effort, commitment and dedication to learning by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and she talked to fellow learners about her own personal experiences. As an already well-educated young woman with diverse interests and a high-flying career as a chartered accountant and tax adviser, Yasmin’s life changed dramatically when she encountered severe depression. For nearly two years, she was unable to work. She said: “I became withdrawn from society and unable to function at even a basic level. I knew I would eventually have to return to work, but couldn’t imagine how that could be possible.”

A lifeline was offered by the Broadening Horizons course, which is run by Bracknell and Wokingham College and supported by Wokingham District Council. She said: “That course was a first step towards returning my mind to ‘normal life’, and just having to interact with others laid the foundations for rebuilding my shattered confidence.” Yasmin now uses her talents to help people with a variety of needs to access learning.

And, for the first time this year, the district council also presented four overall learner achievement awards. ‘E-Learner of 2006’ was awarded to Bob Thornton from Wokingham. Learndirect kindly donated a voucher for Bob to attend additional courses. Albie Smith from Bracknell was presented with the overall ‘Outstanding Personal Achievement of 2006’ and he was presented with book tokens, kindly donated by Reading University. ‘Perseverance in Learning award in 2006’ was awarded to Sue Chapman from Woodley and she was presented with a voucher for further learning, kindly donated by Bracknell and Wokingham College.

Wokingham District Council’s ‘Overall Learner of 2006’ was awarded to Beverley Ballard from Earley. Beverley, a mother of two daughters, has overcome many barriers to learning. She spent time at the CResCent Centre on the integration project and it allowed her to develop self-confidence and improve her self-esteem. Beverley said: “I thoroughly enjoyed going along to the CResCent Centre to learn new skills and meet new people. I was determined to complete the course and it has improved my self-confidence. I was delighted to win this award.” Beverley was presented with a certificate and also won dinner, bed and breakfast kindly donated by Cantley House Hotel.

Wokingham District Council’s chairman Cllr Angus Ross said: “Listening to the many stories highlighted in the Learner Challenge Awards, it illustrates that many of our learners in the Wokingham district have overcome great challenges and barriers to learning. Adult learning has a huge impact on our community and the Wokingham Learning Partnership is achieving well in bringing together those planning, funding and delivering learning to meet the needs of adult learners.

“I am pleased that the district council is recognising the hard work of these individuals. It is a wonderful achievement of which they should all be very proud and I hope it will give them to encouragement to continue their studies in the future.”

Wokingham District Council