College awards first for students

Three students at Oldham Sixth Form College receive special memorial prizes. Usman Tahir (Helen Ramsden), Ayesha Begum (Gloria Oates) and Jonathan Kaye (Mark Anderson).

TWO new awards have been presented in memory of an ex-student and a former lecturer at Oldham Sixth Form College.

Mark Anderson, who was just 23 when he lost his battle against testicular cancer, and mother-of-two Helen Ramsden were honoured at the college’s annual presentation evening.

Awards were presented in their memory along with the Gloria Oates Prize, introduced in 2010 to remember the college’s former chairman of governors.

Mark studied travel and tourism at the college from 2004 to 2006 and did a degree at Manchester Metropolitan University. He was a trainee manager in Oldham Travelodge and died in September.

The Mark Anderson Award for Travel and Tourism has been established by Mary McKnight, who was the course leader for the subject before retiring in 2009.

She said Mark was everything you could want in the perfect student, adding: “He worked hard, loved his studies and was an all-round lovely person.”

The award recognises students who have the “Mark Anderson” attitude to the subject, not just achieving high marks but eager to learn and always willing to go the extra mile.

It was presented to Jonathan Kay, who is now studying travel and tourism management at Leeds Metropolitan University

Health and social care lecturer Helen Ramsden remained a committed fund-raiser while battling the rare auto-immune condition scleroderma and breast cancer.

She developed kidney failure last spring and had to spend long periods on dialysis, but suffered complications and died in October.

The Helen Ramsden Award for Health and Social Care was presented to Usman Tahir who is studying the subject at Sheffield Hallam University.

Ayesha Begum, a pharmacy student at Aston University, Birmingham, received the Gloria Oates Award for Excellence and Endeavour.

It recognises a science student who has gone on to a degree course in a health-related field and has the ideal qualities for the profession.

More than 100 students, who left the college this year, were presented with personal achievement awards by principal Jayne Clarke at the annual ceremony