Mary Clarke-Mortiboys

I nominate my wife Mary Clarke-Mortiboys, for her lifelong commitment to helping adults learn. Convinced of the life-changing potential of learning for adults, in 1976 she began voluntary work at her local Adult Education Centre ('The Butts' in Walsall). Soon she became part-time centre head there, when just 50 adults were enrolled for courses. She singlehandedly developed the programme, persuading the council to give more funding, until there were 750 learners enrolled. She continued this work, elsewhere in Walsall and then in Birmingham where she introduced Adult Learners' Week in 1991 which gave adult learners the chance to showcase their stories of struggle and success. She still contributes in a voluntary capacity to Adult Learners Week in the West Midlands and as a Governor at the local Butts School. And she did a 26 mile Moonwalk for breast cancer in 2010, aged 62!