Millie Blenkinsop, who was originally from Newcastle but moved to the Island eight years ago, started her BA Honours degree in performing arts at Gateshead College in 2007, when she was 64 years old, and hopes to encourage others to consider adult further education.

She said: 'I would say to anybody my age: "It's not too late – go out and follow your dreams. Even if you never catch them, you have fun along the way".'

Millie has just been awarded Student of the Year for the Creative Industries category in the Gateshead Student Awards, a wonderful achievement after so many years of aspiring to be an actress.

She said: 'I had wanted to be an actress since I was 14 years old, but an aunt of mine told me not to be so stupid and to think about what job I could do as soon as I would be leaving school.

'She shattered my dreams there and then.'

Millie added: 'Coming from my kind of family background there were no opportunities or know-how for me to find out how to get into performing arts.'

Assuming her dreams to pursue acting would never be fulfilled, Millie became a general post office telephonist.

She got married when she was 20 years old and, after the birth of her first baby, she did promotional work for many years.

'The funniest job I ever did was dressing up as a chicken advertising eggs,' she revealed.

She now runs the Lansdowne Guest House in Buck's Road, Douglas, with her partner Graham French.

Throughout her various jobs, however, Millie maintained her love of the acting profession.

She was a big fan of Elizabeth Taylor and when she was 40 her daughter told her:
'I want you to be like Joan Collins when you're older.'

In 1997, Graham's daughter-in-law did the performing arts course at Gateshead College.

She recommended the course to Millie, but she didn't listen to the advice at that time.

Ten years later, however, everything changed.

Millie explained: 'In 2007, I went through a time in my life where I felt I was brain dead from the ankles up.

'I prayed to be shown the way forward and one morning I woke up and thought, I will try to get on the performing arts course.

'Even as I made the telephone call, in my heart of hearts I never thought for one moment I would be accepted.'

Millie went along for the audition and was accepted there and then.
'The course is taken by people of all ages, and Millie said the younger people were 'lovely and so supportive'.

Her success on the course was clear from the nomination for the Student Awards that she received, which said: 'Millie is what Gateshead College is all about.

'She has ambition, a desire to learn and a lust for life.

'As you will see from her date of birth, she's not straight out of school but her desire to succeed is greater because of that.'

Millie said about the course: 'I love the acting and learning about the history of theatre. I just wish with all my heart that I'd had this opportunity when I was young.'

In September this year she will commence her final year of the course.
For her first semester, she will specialise in Reminiscence Theatre, a form of theatre that aims to dramatise real life experiences by using people's memories as the basis for scripts.

Millie will be going to a care home and will organise reminiscence with the residents there.

She will script the stories and have them acted out by herself and two facilitators.

Research has shown that Reminiscence Theatre is very therapeutic, especially for people with dementia.

Meanwhile, the course has been extremely helpful for Millie herself.

She said: 'Before doing this course I'd had too many strokes and all I seemed to concentrate on was health problems.

'Now, because of the course, I never think about it.

'It's given me back my confidence, my self-esteem, and has broadened my horizons.

'Even at my age, I think there's still opportunities for me. I may be getting older in years, but I'm getting younger in mind.'

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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YOUR COMMENTS

Well done Millie. I have met Millie in Newcastle last September whilst accompanying my sister for a hospital visit. It just goes to show never give up on your dreams. We may yet get to see Millie as an actress on TV in the near future.
All the best,
DEAN

Not wanting to sound mean but I wonder if the Government paid for Millie to go to Uni? If she has only been here 8 years then if she has received the finance as a mature student then she is very lucky indeed.
ANON