PRIME Initiative

If Elsie didn’t look like everyone’s favourite grandmother, she’d be a bit frightening. She’s got a first degree, several diplomas & certificates, a further degree, sits on five committees and has set herself up as a counsellor. And she’s only 77.

Says Elsie: “Like so many other young women at the time, I left school at 16 straight into a job. There was no real question of going into higher education. So, some years after I had retired, when my youngest came back home from university with a prospectus, I thought I’d give it a go. And I haven’t really looked back”.

Elsie spent most of her working life as an administrator for the Prudential Insurance Company, eventually running a large department. Even then she made time for other activities, sitting, as the only woman, on the National Executive of her Union, the NUIW. Says Elsie: “I had always been interested in equality/employment issues so when my daughter suggested signing up for a course I opted for social studies on one night per week. After that they offered me a place on the full-time degree course - so there I was with a bunch of twenty-year-olds”.

Seven years later, with an MA in Guidance and Counselling under her belt as well, she is now an established counsellor offering a full range of services from bereavement to stress management.

“Making the decision to go to university has opened so many doors for me. I never thought I’d start to earn an income again once I retired but the counselling work, which I do from home, supplements my pension. But it’s more than that. I’m convinced keeping busy keeps me healthy. My daughters often complain that they have to make appointments to see me and that I have a better social life than they do. I must be doing something right!”