This Is Staffordshire
09:20 - 25-September-2009
IT WAS like an episode of Family Fortunes when two sisters, their mum and their dad all turned up at Staffordshire University this week to begin degree courses.
Now Frank and Josephine Foy, and daughters Georgina Bould and Katherine Foy, are swapping study tips and meeting up for lunch in between their lectures on campus.
All four originally left school at 15 or 16. But after suffering a series of setbacks, including bereavement and redundancy, they wanted to pursue their dreams of a better life at university.
Keen artist Frank, from Tunstall, has just signed up for a degree in fine art.
The 62-year-old said: "I won a scholarship when I was 15 to Stoke-on-Trent College of Art, but being the eldest of five, my father told me to get a job.
"I did 20 years in the Army, including serving in Beirut and Northern Ireland. When I came out of the Army, we moved back to Stoke-on-Trent."
After doing stints in several other jobs, he was forced to retire through health problems. It was then he returned to his love of art and is now a member of Burslem Art Group, as well as a fledgling student.
But it was only by chance he ended up at Staffordshire University.
He had gone along to an open day to support his 35-year-old daughter Katherine, who was interested in doing a degree.
"Instead of it being a dad taking his daughter to university, it became the daughter taking the dad," he said. "I picked up the brochure for the fine art course and then got an interview."
His wife Josephine, aged 61, soon followed suit.
With a background in amateur dramatics, she is now treading the boards on a degree course in drama and performance arts.
She said: "I'm probably 40 years older than everybody else on the course, but I'm enjoying it."
Having a whole family of mature students has sparked some rivalry and university work is the main topic of conversation at home.
Katherine, who lives in Chell Heath, said: "There's healthy competition between us, but we are a very close family and if one of us is struggling, there will be somebody to offer a helping hand."
She took an access course at college before joining Staffordshire University, where she is studying history.
"I spent nearly 20 years working in an office and was bored with my job," she said. "I now want to train to become a teacher."
Georgina, age 40, who is studying English and history, is in some of the same classes. And as she also lives in Chell Heath, the pair even travel to the Stoke campus together in the mornings.
She already had a diploma from Keele University under her belt before moving to Staffordshire University for a degree.
Georgina first returned to education after her husband died six years ago and she found herself as an unemployed single parent bringing up three children.
She said: "That was the main motivation. I really had to do something. My children are now 17, 15 and 11 and they think it's brilliant I'm going to university."
And soon there could be three generations of the family at university, because Katherine and Georgina's children are also planning to apply.