News release: Mature students win well-deserved awwards

Abstract

Mature student John Bannister has just received a well-deserved £200 for outstanding
academic performance on his course at the University of Central Lancashire.
John, 40, from Penwortham, a former landscape gardener, was one of five local students
to be awarded an Ede and Ravenscroft prize for achieving the best results on his course.
Father of one, John also worked as a psychiatric nurse, but always wanted to return to
learning. He is now studying full-time at the University for a degree in Film and Media
and Visual Culture with the intention of putting his creative talents to good use as a
writer in the area of film and media.
Fellow prize-winner, Jane Atkinson, also from Penwortham, currently an officer with
Lancashire Constabulary, scored outstanding marks on her Pychology course and now
intends to transfer straight to a postgraduate diploma in Psychological Studies. Jane
studied at Preston College on the Lancashire Integrated Colleges Scheme, which enables
students to take the first year of a course at a local college before transferring to the
University to complete the course.
Fulwood student Jane Plomgren, 36, the third Preston prize-winner, spent 16 years
working as a community carer before starting a foundation course at the University.
Mother of two, Jane, is now studying for a degree and hopes to have a career in welfare.
Chorley students Lisa Purnell and Sharon Casey completed the line-up of winners. Both
are currently studying for degrees at the University.
Ede and Ravenscroft are suppliers of academic gowns to University staff and students for
award ceremonies. Every year, they offer prizes for students on the University's
Combined Honours Programme for achieving academic excellence in their studies. This
year's winners are all mature students who have benefited from the flexible nature of the
programme of study, where students undertake separate modules at their own pace.
26 February 2002
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Note: Photographs available from Pamela Culley, Media and Promotion Office, tel:
01772 892486