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CHESHIRE, England / icCheshire on line / January 7, 2009

By Gill Broad, Whitchurch Herald

YOU’RE never too old to learn – as nonagenarian graduate Margaret James has just proved.

Mrs James, of Whitchurch, has attained her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature at the grand old age of 91 – she’s 92 next month!

Mrs James, whose mum Mrs Vera Grice was an English teacher, has reached a long-held ambition by becoming a woman of letters too.

“We’re terribly proud of her,” said her daughter, Mrs Rosalind Adam of Tilstock.

“She’s always loved books and has now followed her own mother, who was a rare woman graduate in the early 1900s.”

Birkenhead-born Mrs James, who has three grown-up grandchildren – David, 27, Rosemary, 24, and Richard, 20 – lives with her son Michael in Bathfields Crescent.

She has spent six years studying with the Open University to graduate.

She thanked her academic mentor, John Vetterlein, who she met while researching her family tree, for his invaluable assistance and encouragement.

Lecturer Dr Vetterlein lives in Orkney, from where the James family ancestors originate.

Mrs James also has a love of history which runs in the family. She is president of Whit- church History and Archaeology Group, which was co- founded by her mum Vera and dad Richard, a popular postman who died in 1970.

Mrs James will receive her degree certificate at a ceremony at Derby Town Hall in May.

© 2009 Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited.