A 102-year-old Wiltshire woman has just become one of the oldest people to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Greenwich in London.
Former teacher Alice Moody has just received an Honorary Doctorate in Education for her long devotion to education.
It was presented by the University's Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane Harrington, at a graduation awards ceremony held at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich on October 27.
Mrs Moody currently resides at the Goodson Lodge care home in Hilperton Road, Trowbridge, run by the Order of St John Care Trust.
She studied for her teacher’s certificate at the Avery Hill Teacher Training College in London, which is now part of the University of Greenwich, but had never received a degree.
Alice celebrated the honorary doctorate with her daughter Pam, son-in-law Robin, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Alice was in born in Bermondsey in London's East End in 1921 where she lived with her parents, Wally and Lizzie Russell, her two elder brothers and younger sister.
She won a scholarship that supported her through her schooling locally and into teacher training at Avery Hill Teacher Training College from 1939-41.
Her daughter Pam delivered Alice’s acceptance speech, saying: “When I first heard about the award I felt I did not deserve it. Why would I be awarded this? I then felt very honoured.
“I wish to also take this opportunity to thank the London County Council. It was with their support, in 1932, that I started on my road in education and to my Teacher Training at Avery Hill.
“Being brought up in the East End of London I saw first-hand that many adults were unable to read or write. This in turn had the effect of depriving them of the pleasures that life had to offer.
“This was to become one of my driving forces - to enter into a life of teaching - to change lives. I believe there is something within us that draws us to the profession.
“The other driving force was to become a primary teacher. In the early 1940s primary education was very poor and I felt my road in my life was to teach primary children the basics of education.
“As a headteacher of a village school I had the opportunity to teach in a close community and make decisions that benefitted children, staff and school. I often reflect on my teaching career - I enjoyed it and felt I gave it my best.”
After qualifying as a teacher, Alice taught at Stamford Hill Boys School in Hackney from 1941-43 before being evacuated during the London Blitz by German bombers.
She and children from the school went to Hardington Mandeville in Somerset where she met her future husband Leslie Moody.
After their wedding in 1945, they had a daughter Pam in 1947 and enjoyed a 37-year marriage which only ended when he died in 1982.
Over the next 13 years, Alice taught at Christ Church CoE Primary School in Bradford on Avon from 1946-1947, and at Park Street Primary School and Newtown Junior School in Trowbridge from 1949-1959.
From 1960 she was headteacher of Staverton Primary School for 21 years until her official retirement in 1981.
Crucially, she was an integral driving-force, along with parents, in the fight to keep the school open when it was faced with closure back in 1980.
If a war didn’t stop Alice from teaching, retirement certainly wouldn’t, and she continued to teach children to read on a voluntary basis.
She also visited local schools to give speeches about her evacuation during the Blitz and what life was like in those days.
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