Celebrating lifelong learning at the Adult Community Learning Awards

The Royal Borough of Greenwich recognised the incredible achievements of residents and training providers at the Adult Community Learning Awards.

The special ceremony on Wednesday 17 July filled Woolwich Town Hall with cheers and applause as nominees were called up to receive their awards from the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Councillor Jit Ranabhat.

The service, and its 10 sub-contracted learning providers, had an additional reason to celebrate this year, having recently been rated ‘Good’ across all areas following an Ofsted inspection in May.

Each of the adult learning providers was invited to nominate their Learner of the Year, recognising achievement and progression, and Tutor of the Year for leadership and excellence.

Councillor Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy, Business, Skills and Greenwich Supports, who gave the welcome speech, said: “Huge congratulations to our Learners and Tutors of the Year, who have achieved amazing things over the last year and shown outstanding passion and drive.

“As we heard at the event, high quality adult community learning provision transforms lives. It’s crucial to supporting residents to access good jobs and to building a more inclusive economy and –equally as important–it improves people’s health, wellbeing, happiness, and sense of community and belonging. We are committed to championing the skills of residents and raising awareness of training opportunities in the borough through our Greenwich Learns platform.”

The delicious catering for the event was cooked up by Flavours of Jamrock company directors, Rosemarie and Dom, who both completed the Greenwich Learns business start-up training earlier this year with GCDA. The duo now have a regular market stall in Dial Arch square every Wednesday. Read their learner story.

View all award-winners from the evening below and head over to our gallery to view the photos from the awards ceremony. 

Learner of the year

Ausra Stonkiene 
Nominated by Community Systems

Darren Cook 
Nominated by Flower Skills and Training

Hok-Yu Louis Li 
Nominated by GCDA

Stephanie Buchanan 
Nominated by Global Solution Services

Zoe Cameron 
Nominated by LSEC

Finley Kube

Nominated by Queercircle

Priya Thanaratnam 
Nominated by The Training Place of Excellence

Maimuna Nagawa

Nominated by UCRA

Martin Maddocks 
Nominated by Unity Works

Hadija Ibrahim 
Nominated by Volunteer Centre Greenwich

Tutor of the year

Tracey Cabrera 
Nominated by Community Systems

Ray Cotterrell 
Nominated by Flower Skills and Training 

Amanda Easto 
Nominated by GCDA

Sharon Farrell 
Nominated by Global Solution Services

Piers Goodman 
Nominated by LSEC

Shanay Neusum-James

Nominated by Queercircle

Mary Ofili 
Nominated by The Training Place of Excellence

Joyce Elijah 
Nominated by UCRA

Poppy Love Oldham 
Nominated by Unity Works

Shan Rogbeer 
Nominated by Volunteer Centre Greenwich

Congratulations to all winners!

The Council is working in partnership with the Greater London Authority, using the funding provided by the Mayor of London to provide these life-changing educational opportunities to local residents. 

If this has inspired you too find out more about our Adult and Community Learning courses, then please visit Greenwich Learns. Many courses are FREE for local residents.