SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET....

...now let's begin. Get out your books and start reading chapter three. When you've done that go away and write 500 words. Class dismissed.

Education was once a bit like that for many of us. School may be 60 years back in the past and time may have softened some of edges of our memories but for more and more people, learning is the new retirement buzz. Going back to college, night school or even University is certainly a challenge and, do you know, we can achieve something which once seemed a distant dream - a degree.

That happened to me and it was a rewarding experience that I never expected to get in my third age. After qualifying as a City of London Guide and spending a year learning about Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens among many others, I not only qualified to take people on walking tours of the City but also stimulated my interest in history.

A year and three 12-week evening courses later I felt the time had come to go for the big one - a University degree. I signed on at Birkbeck, University of London and began four years of study that ranged from the establishing of convict colonies in Australia, the impact of the Indian mutiny, the rise of Hollywood and the building of London's main sewage system.

Twice a week I would leave home, take my bicycle by train into London and then pedal across to Malet Street. Time in the library was followed by lectures and seminars before setting off for home at 8.00 pm to make sure I was indoors in time for a cup of hot chocolate before the BBC News started. No diving into a pub or the Students Union for a beer or two. Remember, I had my bike!

In four years I completed and passed all the modules and wrote 12 long essays and a dissertation. It wasn't easy for an ageing body to cycle through London on a cold January evening or retain all the information and knowledge in a brain that was already well-stocked with a lifetime of working experiences. But I kept going. My daughter had got a history degree at Warwick University, the first in the family to do so, and I was determined to achieve that success as well.

Six months after my 71st birthday, my name was read out at the Graduation Ceremony and I stepped forward to collect the certificate to prove I had achieved a 2:1 BA History (Hons) degree. Yes, it felt good and all the other golden oldies around were looked well satisfied. Birkbeck has a great record in part-time University learning for older and 'mature' students and we all consider it now 'our Uni'.

It's not easy returning to education after such a long gap and many people had real problems about their ability to write essays. There were those who struggled and even agonised over their efforts and then were incensed that the mark did not reflect the number of hours they had spent outlining their theories on paper. I was one of them at first, submitting essays which were considered too journalistic and not showing enough analysis and argument.

But on Graduation Day in July 2010 it all seemed worthwhile. It had been challenge and, at times, doubt had crept in. But the achievement made it worthwhile. It was a hugely enjoyable four years.