The great achievements of adult learners in London were celebrated at the London Regional Awards Ceremony, as part of Adult Learners’ Week 2010. The ceremony took place at Waltham Forest College on the 18th May 2010 with over 150 learners, friends, family, and professional colleagues present.

Winners at the London award ceremony

The event was hosted by Simon Beer, London Regional Director for NIACE, and award presentations were made by the Mayor of Waltham Forest, Anna Mbachu. London had a series of regional winners, who won awards sponsored by local organisations in specialist categories:

• Birkbeck College – Access to HE
• Pro-Active Partnerships – Learning through Sport
• University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) – Language Learning
• London South Bank University – Learning in the Community
• Skills and Learning for London Partnership – Non-Accredited Learning
• OCN London Region – Learning through OCN
• South-East London Lifelong Learning Network (SELLLN) – Engineering, Construction and Technology
• Trinity College London – ESOL
• European Social Fund – Individual Award

The ceremony took place with fantastic support from Waltham Forest College, who generously provided the venue for the awards free of charge. The College also provided the entertainment during the awards; the Performance Arts students working in conjunction with X7eaven presented a fusion of song, dance and drama to give a flavour of the skills they acquired during their time on the course.

Waltham Forest College’s Hospitality and Catering students, studying for their Level 1 and Level 2 VRQ qualification in Professional Cookery, made all the hospitality arrangements on the day. Students taking the new 14–19 Diplomas in Hospitality were also assessed on the day as part of their practical customer service assessment, whilst the College’s Student Ambassadors performed the ushering duties.

Amanda Pavon-Lopez, Adult Learners’ Week coordinator in London, said:

“Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for the Awards in London and to the award winners. It has been wonderful to celebrate so many people’s achievements and we would like to thank everyone who attended the ceremony to celebrate with us. An enormous debt of gratitude is also owed to all those staff and students from the college who did so much to make the day a success. We are very grateful both to Principal Robin Jones and to Angela Bucknor and her team in the marketing department for making the day so enjoyable.”