IT might have taken more than 60 years to achieve, but a Malvern scholar has finally been awarded a degree.

Eighty-year-old Vera Russell was all set to go to university when the Second World War broke out and she was forced to cut her schooling to begin work as a junior physicist making radio valves.

It was not until 1994 that she opened her schoolbooks again to begin studies with the Open University. Tomorrow she will receive a BA honours for her efforts.

"By the time the war was finished I was married with a baby so I couldn't go," said Mrs Russell, of Harcourt Road, West Malvern.

She moved to Malvern from Essex in 1977 and worked as a lab technician at Malvern Girls' College until 1987.

Seven years later her passion for learning was re-ignited when she was impressed by Italian art during a holiday.

Since then she has taken nine different courses, including one on art in 15th Century Italy.

"I think it's a shame more people don't do OU courses because even though you do a lot of studying from home, you still attend tutorials and meet so many different people," she said.