An inspirational award ceremony took place on Friday May 20 to celebrate the achievements and successes of a number of adult learners from the Wokingham Borough, many of whom have overcome great personal challenges to complete educational courses.
Held for the eighth year running, the awards take place as part of Adult Learners Week, which is the UK’s largest and longest running festival of learning that aims to encourage adults to take part in learning activities and events across England.
Executive Member for Education Services Cllr Rob Stanton joined the learners from across the Wokingham Borough to celebrate their success and gave the welcoming speech and handed out the awards.
One of last year’s Learner Challenge Award winners – Julie Moors – spoke to the audience about her learning experiences on the My Family Matters course and one of this year’s winners Chris Esling also spoke about the improvements in his life since he started undertaking courses at the CResCent Resource Centre.
The adult learning organisations including Bracknell and Wokingham College, CResCent Resource Centre, the Karten Centre, My Family Matters and Learndirect, took part in these awards. The learners were nominated by their course tutors, who singled them out for well-deserved recognition.
The Overcoming Barriers to Learning awards were won by Meghana Pothapragada, Doreen Loader, Georgina Screech, Raph Ejike, Diana Gilbery all of whom received a £20 WHSmith’s gift voucher.
The Outstanding Personal Achievement awards were won by Marion Selwood, Laura Hodgson, Ron Atkinson, Gill Gillard, Christine Jagger, David Turnbull.
The Overall Achievers of the Year awards were won by Mark Carbonaro (who received a £30 voucher from Bracknell and Wokingham College to use on any course) Selina Sheppard, Chris Esling (both of whom received a £30 WHSmith’s gift voucher.
The Learning Group of the Year was won by a Healthy eating cookery project funded by an Age UK project, Fit as a Fiddle, which is run at the CResCent Centre consisting of Geoffrey Clarke, Michael Collins, Norman Dyer, Brian Foster, Rod Jackson, Paul Lunt, Ronald Martin and Peter Woodward. They received £200 from St James Place Wealth Management based in Twyford. This will directly fund the group to continue cooking together, learning even more healthy recipes and practicing their new skills.
The E-Learner of the Year was Elizabeth Rafferty who received a £50 voucher from PC World.
The Adult Learner of the Year was Sheran Kirby who won a voucher for dinner, bed and breakfast very kindly donated by the Cantley House Hotel.
Sheran was selected for the dedication and passion for learning that she demonstrated on the Healthy Cooking course at the Gorse Ride Community House, and also how she has used her new skills to help strengthen her local community.
Cllr Stanton said: "It was an honour to present these awards and it was also humbling to hear about the accomplishments of the winners who have all overcome personal obstacles to achieve their goals. The awards were inspirational and it was great to hear that many of the winners are now supporting others in their learning as well."
