History tutor receives MBE in Queen's honours list

An MBE in the Queen's birthday honours announced on Friday came "completely out of the blue" for Farncombe Estate tutor William Tyler.

William Tyler spent his whole professional life working in adult education, something which took him all over the country. He said he was "almost embarrassed" about the honour which recognises a career spanning almost 30 years in adult education.

"We got a letter from the Cabinet office it was a complete and utter surprise and completely out of the blue," he said. "It is a huge honour and recognises the importance of adult education as a service in society."

William Tyler is one of the 984 people to be honoured by the Queen. His MBE is in recognition of services to adult education and his last full time post was as Principal of The City Lit in London, Britain's biggest adult education college. He had previously served as a Principal of Manchester's Adult Education College and as Warwickshire's County Adviser for Adult Education.

Mr Tyler read law at Oxford University, before studying criminology at Keele University and undertaking a research degree at Nottingham University in educational geratology - education of the elderly. He said he was looking for a job after university when he became a resident tutor at a college in Kent. He met his wife, Jennifer, there as she was a bursar housekeeper and Mr Tyler said he "enjoyed working with adults, I thought it was interesting and fun and went on from there".

Humble Mr Tyler said he will visit Buckingham Palace within the next six months with his wife and two children. He said he cannot believe the company he keeps with regard to his honour. "When you look at what people who have received these awards have done, one feels quite privileged to be in the same group," he said. "To be in the same list as James Bolam of the Likely Lads was pretty humbling and there are a lot of people with real talent."

As well as serving on a host of boards and trusts Mr Tyler is constantly busy in his retirement, as he has built up a freelance career including lecturing, public speaking, writing and consultancy work which includes tutoring on several weekends a year at Farncombe Estate Centre just outside Broadway. William's next course at Farncombe takes place in January 2010.   For more details visit www.FarncombeEstate.co.uk or call 01386 854100.

27 Jun 2009 08:14:02 (Source: Farncombe Estate)

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