Janet Fowler has learnt to read and write at the age of 61 thanks to the WEA.

Janet spent her childhood being ignored and now she is finally getting the help she needs - almost 50 years after she left school. She attends the Portsmouth Omega centre (where WEA runs a variety of courses) twice a week for reading and writing lessons, an opportunity to learn the skills she was not able to learn at school.

Janet's early years in Portsmouth were spent from school to school when her inability to learn at the same rate as her peers saw her tagged as slow. In reality Janet has learning difficulties, but at the same time there wasn't any help and support for her and she simply fell behind.

"At the age of 10 I didn't have any skills. I was annoyed that nobody ever bothered to help me."

At the age of 10, she still couldn't read or write at all. The course of her life was altered forever at the age of 14, when she was sent to live in a convent by her parents. There she spent the next 40 years, which were caught up in a daily routine of work, sleep and not much else. As time went by Janet thought she'd never get the chance to enjoy the pleasure of reading that everyone else around her seemed to take for granted.

Then she found the Omega Centre seven months ago and everything changed for Janet.

"I eventually got some help" says Janet.

"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."

She's now able to master short sentences and is learning to read. Since starting to attend the Omega Centre last September, she has learnt how to build up letters, recognise words and read sentences.

"It makes me feel like I'm on cloud nine."

Her tutor Sue Weekes has been astounded by her progress: "She is progressing at a phenomenal rate for an adult learner." As well as involving her in group work, Sue provides Janet with an individual 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."

For now Janet is content with working her way through children's books, picking up magazines and practising joining up letters in her handwriting book. But now that she's finally learning to read and write she's got dreams of what she wants to be able to do.

"I learn enough at the classes to be able to practice and my aim is to be able to read the paper," says Janet who lives with a carer in Fratton.