TWO West Devon women were among 750 students from across the South West to see their hard work rewarded when the Open University announced its results this week. Marion Best of Tavistock has earned a 2:1 BA honours in humanities with music, and will be presented with her degree at a ceremony in Cardiff on May 5. Marion, 65, is now retired but was delighted to have earned her qualification through the OU programme. She said: 'I have spent the last six years fulfilling my ambition denied to me when I was young by a well-meaning headmistress. 'The courses I have studied have taught me so much more than simply what they contain. I look at the world through different eyes and with better understanding.' Marion trained to be a teacher before concentrating on bringing up her family — a daughter, who now lives in Plymouth, and two sons, who now live in Sussex. She is complimentary of the OU system, which she found very flexible and combining arts and sciences modules. Her humanities study encompassed a mixture of art, literature, history, religion and music. Marion intends to take a well earned rest from academia to perhaps do some voluntary work and rekindle her piano playing. But she added: 'I shall miss my daily book-fix and will not be surprised to find myself filling in more enrolment forms in the future.' Janice Sowden, of Halwill Junction, has overcome the difficult balancing act of work, family and studies to gain an OU diploma in adult nursing. Janice, 42, who works as a staff nurse at Deer Park Nursing Home in Holsworthy, thanked both her employer, Andrew Orchard, and the NHS Training Federation for supporting her on her nursing career. Janice said: 'I am in quite a unique position of training to be a nurse through the OU whilst working in an independent private sector nursing home. 'I have been very well supported within the NHS via placements and stepping in on their study days but all the back fill costs have been met by my employer — to my knowledge we are the first independent nursing home to take part in this pre-registration nursing course. 'This course has been fantastic for me because I began with no formal qualifications, only open university qualifications.' She and her husband Kelvin brought up four children — two of whom they became legal guardian for after their parents died in 1993 — and after being a housewife for 14 years Janice returned to work in May 2000, becoming a care assistant in the Deer Park Nursing Home. Janice told the Times: 'I progressed within the nursing home and then, via the Open University and a very supportive and forward thinking employer and matron, began training to be a nurse whilst maintaining full time employment and not losing out financially.' Janice is already working, through the OU, on a further diploma on health and social welfare. This will go towards her ambition to achieve her nursing degree as a Registered General Nurse. She hopes to use her skills to work with the elderly and palliative care. Janice will be presented with her nursing diploma at a presentation to be held in Cheltenham on May 18, where she will be supported by a 'coach load' of family and friends, including those from Deer Park Nursing Home.
