LIFE IN MORAY
How the Partnership is making a difference to peoples lives.

Mary Mainland

I have come a long way since then. I always used to have difficultly with reading and didn’t really read until I was an adult and even then it was often a struggle to cope with the written word. This was frustrating and it was often upsetting that others around me found it difficult to understand or to sympathise with the fact that I found reading and writing tasks a problem. I managed everything else so why was reading so hard? Always wanting to do the best for my sons and their education I often felt I let them down by being unable to help them as much as I would have liked.

In my early fifties I had a bereavement and subsequently suffered very badly with depression. Members of the local cancer support group were my lifesavers and I received help from a lot of kind friends and professionals. My counsellor at the hospital suggested I join a local art group working with people who had mental health issues but on the way there I, fortuitously, had what I call a "senior moment" and knocked at the door of the wrong office. This brought me to Moray New Futures who opened a lot of doors for me. Firstly, they arranged for me to go to Computers for the Terrified at Moray College and they also put me in touch with Essential Skills at Moray Council’s Community Learning and Development Service. Here I joined a group to improve my reading and writing. I discovered that verbs and nouns could be fun and the company was very pleasant. I also found that using coloured overlays when I am reading stopped letters jumping around on a page as it seems I have dyslexic tendencies. Adult literacy learning became something not be ashamed of but to be enjoyed.

Now I am on the learning pathway there is no stopping me. Moving on from Computers for the Terrified I am now completing the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) and studying for an SVQ2 (Scottish Vocational Qualification) in Horticulture at Moray College. Essential Skills helped me achieve SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) Access 3 in Communications. I continue to be very involved with Elgin and District Cancer Support Group who provided much needed support for me when I needed it. Among other things I have been involved with writing funding applications such as to the Lottery Fund.

A multiplicity of individuals and agencies got me through a really difficult time in my life and helped me move on but what is really interesting is that adult literacy learning is what holds all this together. If it were not for the help I got from Essential Skills I would never have the confidence or the ability to do all that I do or to achieve what I have done. Just as I continue to be involved with the cancer support group and put something back into a group that helped me I want to put something back into Essential Skills. I am now training to be an adult literacy tutor and studying for the Professional Development Award in an Introduction to Adult Literacy Learning. When this is finished I will become a volunteer tutor and I hope that I can make the sort of difference to someone else’s life as has been made to mine, by increasing their confidence in reading and writing. Now I can support my grandson with his education in a way that I never could with my sons. I would encourage any one who struggles with reading, writing or numbers to get involved with adult learning because it really can make a difference.

So, there is no more thought of crawling into holes. You may find me digging one in the College’s garden as I study for an SVQ in Horticulture – but that is as far as it goes!

Moray Youthstart