At school-leaving age, Janet says, she couldn't read or write at all, and at the age of 14, was sent to live in a convent after her parents found they could no longer look after her.
Janet spent the next 40 years at the convent, caught up in a daily routine of work, making dresses, sewing and later working at the kitchens making food for other residents at the convent. As time went by Janet thought she would never get the chance to enjoy the pleasure of reading that everyone else around her seemed to take for granted.
In 2010, Janet found out about the Omega Centre in Portsmouth, where classes are run by the WEA. Almost 50 years after leaving school, Janet returned to learning.
Her twice-weekly visits to the centre have since resulted in Janet beginning to learn the writing and reading skills she really wanted and needed. “It makes me feel like I’m on cloud nine”, says Janet.
After seven months of learning at the centre Janet says she was able to build up letters, recognise words, master short sentences and is now learning to read.
She says: "I'm fighting for this. It makes me feel proud. Deep down I thought I wasn't going to get this far. Now I have come along so much."
Janet is delighted to be working her way through children's books, picking up magazines and practising joining up letters in her handwriting book - she says that now that she's finally reading and writing, she's got more dreams of what she wants to be able to do next.
"I want to read and I know I can do it,” she says. "I learn enough at the classes to be able to practice and my aim is to be able to read the paper."
Her WEA tutor, Sue Weekes has been astounded by her progress: “Janet is progressing at a phenomenal rate for an adult learner." As well as involving her in group work, Sue provides Janet with a tailored programme that she can carry out on her own and with one-to-one help. Sue adds: "Janet is learning to read the same way that is taught in primary schools, but she has the enthusiasm and determination of an adult, which can really accelerate achievement."
Amanda Burgess, the Omega Centre's development worker for the adult literacy and numeracy programme, Skills for Life, says: "Janet is the perfect example of what we strive to achieve. The WEA provides opportunities for those who may not have excelled in their early years, but still have a desire and ambition to learn."