Portishead lecturer given MBE

Portishead lecturer given MBE

A LECTURER from Portishead has been honoured with an MBE after she set up IT classes for blind people at the City of Bristol College.

Helen Sage, aged 58, was nominated by her former students and colleagues for her services to further education.

The mother-of-two started the computer view course with just four blind students in 1991, which she built up to 100 students each week on three different campuses.

Helen, of Peartree Field, was the programme co-ordinator for the course and later opened it up for people with a wide range of disabilities who needed to use specialist software.

The lecturer, who retired last summer, said: “I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of support workers and a very dedicated team. I couldn’t have done it on my own. Some of the students we trained then went on to become lecturers as well.

“It was amazing to find out the students had put in so much effort to nominate me. I’m very grateful.”