A good turnout for the Gold Awards honouring
former college students who
have gone on to great things. One year
not a single winner turned up.
But only the actor Sean Bean failed
to make the 2006 ceremony at the
House of Commons, organised by the Association
of Colleges. Work
pressure, explained his agent. Bean,
who did welding at Rotherham College
before switching to performing arts,
has been yomping around Gloucestershire
playing a paratrooper in the film Outlaw.
His daughter Lorna collected his
award. Other winners included Kim Wilde,
the former pop singer turned
gardener (Capel Manor College), the
folk singer Kate Rusby (Barnsley
College) and the Olympic gold medallist
sprinter Marlon Devonish (Henley
College, Coventry).
Gold
Awards for Further Education Alumni
The winners of the 2006 Gold Awards for Further Education Alumni
will be announced at a presentation to be held at the House of
Commons on Wednesday 14 June 2006.
Gold Award winners, who are nominated by further education colleges,
are people who have attended that college and who have since
gone on
to achieve excellence in his or her chosen field.
Recipients of the Gold Awards will have:
Attended college for a significant period (e.g. for a year or
until
the completion of a qualification).
Acknowledged that they gained benefit from their time at college
(e.g. by gaining the confidence and competence to pursue an
occupation or enter preparation for the field in which they have
excelled).
Received public recognition and acclaim, or made a major
contribution in their field.