Ruskin Alumni’s memoirs published Bill Haywood left school at 15 without any formal qualifications and 21 years later he attended Ruskin to obtain his first diploma, which helped to change the direction of his life. Bill Haywood’s memoirs, ‘On Life’s Little Twists and Turns’, was published on 4th April 2014 and tells the story of Bill’s journey from the factory floor to academia. Bill attended Ruskin from 1974-1976. Bill’s journey is briefly summarised on the back-cover of his book: Bill, an English working-class, Black Country lad, saw only a lifetime of factory drudgery as his fate when he was young. He left school at fifteen without any academic qualifications and entered the workforce with various engineering companies. For five years, he served in the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and Malta. After his service, he was hired on at one of the largest engineering companies in the UK-Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. At the age of thirty-six, while still working at GKN, he threw caution to the winds to attend Ruskin College, Oxford, to pursue a dream. At the age of thirty-nine, he earned a diploma and later achieved a doctorate at the age of forty-five. His is a journey of discovery, proof that life holds great potential for those who are willing to look beyond their immediate environment or circumstances. He hopes to encourage others to seek something beyond their current factory, office, or shop door, where a more satisfying future may await. Bill Haywood shared that he “was just glad to have escaped working in factories for most of [his] life. Ruskin played an enormously important role in allowing that to happen”.
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 12:07:45 +0000
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