PUPPETS ON A STRING: Weston Park Infants School is holding literacy classes where children and parents mix - these four test out puppets made with their mums.

TODAY marks the start of Adult Learners' Week, the UK's annual festival aimed at encouraging people to return to education.

Across the South there are dozens of promotional events as well as presentation ceremonies to reward some of the thousands of people who have taken up the challenge.

Television presenter Andrew Harvey is guest of honour at an awards ceremony tonight hosted by Southampton City Council.

He will be at the Southampton Park Hotel to hand out certificates to individuals and groups from across the city who have been nominated by their tutors.

A group of mums who gather every week to study aromatherapy, crafts and first aid at Weston Shore Community Centre will also be honoured in a separate ceremony.

They have been encouraged back into learning through the Stepping Stones project run jointly by the centre and Southampton City College.

It is just one of several initiatives run by the college in co-operation with community groups.

Eleven Southampton mums have taken a direct interest in their family's literacy through a series of twice-weekly classes at Weston Park Infants School.

Lisa Barrett, 27, has seen a transformation in her four-year-old daughter Holly since the programme began in January.

She said: "It's interesting to go back to basics to see how children learn. Holly was bright before she started, she knew the alphabet, but now she has learned how to spell on her own. It has been really good fun."

City College tutor Vanessa Hooper said part of the aim was to demystify education.

She added: "It's also about making parents value their important job. We want them to take the ideas out of the classroom and follow them up at home."

On page three, we feature two more success stories from the world of adult learning - accountant Donna Mulholland, whose life was transformed by a course at Southampton Institute, and Wayne's World, a unique learning project at Redbridge Community School.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.