the home and looking after my son as well. I had no financial help -- my income support had to stretch to support my travel, materials, books, bills -- that was a tough to deal with, but I was very determined. What other courses have you done? When I returned to London I couldn't find work. I saw an advert in the paper for a women's only establishment offering assistance with NVQ in whatever given trade you wanted. I started in carpentry and did my NVQ 1 and NVQ 2. After that I went to college in Hackney and did my level 3. Then onto Lewisham College and completed a leadership course. Lewisham College and UCATT pushed me to do more courses and I now work for UCATT in the Training and Development Department. How has winning a 2012 Adult Learners' Week award impacted on you? When I was doing the courses, it was not something that I thought I needed to be recognised for. I did it for me, no one can take away what's between your ears. I believe we should always have that hunger to learn -- everyday we should be learning something. It doesn't stop once you have landed yourself a job, you make sure that you continue the learning process. Are the barriers for black learners now the same as they were 30 years ago? The barriers are not as apparent as they were when our parents came over. They talked about not being able