A WOMAN from Bishopsmead has graduated from the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth after one of her late father?s souvenirs played a valuable part towards her final grade. Edwina Parr left Tavistock College at 16 and started work in the then TSB bank. After marriage and children she enrolled at Marjon in 2002. She submitted a dissertation on the comparison between the 1851 Great Exhibition and the 1951 Festival of Britain. After spending many hours in National Archives around London, it was actually closer to home where she found the most unlikely resource. Edwina?s father, Jim Parr who died in 1997, visited the 1951 exhibition as part of a Tavistock school trip and bought a programme which he kept as a souvenir. This meant she had an original programme from 1951, a valuable contribution to the final dissertation. She received a 2.1 BA honours degree in History with English Language and Linguistics and is now thinking of a career in historical archives.
