The difference is, it comes to her home - or at least one of her fellow students pops in to pass on what she has just learned. Veronica is housebound. At 54, severe arthritis prevents her getting out. A disabled friend introduced her to a charity called Housebound Learners where volunteers take adult education courses and then visit housebound people to share what they have learned. It is refreshingly defiant of e-learning and recognises that adult education has so much more to offer than just further study.
Tuition is free for volunteers and their students.
I've always wanted to go to college to do something else to keep the brain ticking over, but I'm unable to get out. Since I was introduced to Housebound Learners I have done so many of the things that I wanted to do. The classes she has taken include aromatherapy, ceramics, photography, nature studies and watercolours, in which she has excelled. Without them she feels she would have sunk into depression. I would just be vegetating to be honest.