Sarah feels ‘proud and privileged’ at honour

STAR Oldham actress Sarah Lancashire paid a flying visit to her home town to pick up her honorary doctorate of letters from University Campus Oldham (UCO).

Sarah (44), who took to the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with this year’s graduates, said: “It’s a great honour to receive this doctorate, a privilege, and doubly so because I’m receiving it in Oldham which is my home town.

“You do feel a bit of a fraud, all I seemed to have done is enjoyed my work.You never feel you’ve done anything to merit them.

“But it is a very proud thing for myself and my family.”

The former Hulme Grammar School and Oldham College student, who shot to fame as dizzy barmaid Raquel in the ITV soap “Coronation Street”, is now a mother-of-three and is based in London.

She already has an honorary master of arts from Salford University, where she lectured for four years.

She said: “I didn’t know that Oldham had a university campus but it is fantastic for the town. I hope to create a relationship with UCO and continue to be affiliated with it.”

Dr Rupert Ward, head of Informatics, said: “What we are looking for is aspiring role models and Sarah is everything we could wish for in a local girl done good.

“Here, it is about raising aspirations because lots of people in Oldham are not aspirational.”