John Wright, aged 51, from Preston, joined the college in November, after spending the previous six years working for Lancashire Adult Learning as principal of the East Lancashire area.

Prior to this he spent 12 years working in prison education, four of which were at Lancaster Farms Young Offenders Institution when it opened in 1992.

He has spent a total of 30 years in adult education, including posts at Runshaw, Preston, and Blackpool and Fylde Colleges.

John said: "I'm delighted to be working here. It's such an excellent college, with great provision for people in North Lancashire.

"It's a very inclusive place with lots available for people who are in the margins of the community.

"It is also a brilliant building with great facilities and a vibrant atmosphere."

During Adult Learners Week which runs until May 23 the college is offering free taster courses for anyone interested in studying there.

The tasters include languages, IT and Skills for Life information, as well as tasters for full and part-time courses run by Lancaster Adult College.

The college has 15,000 learners per year, with 60 per cent based at the White Cross facility. The rest are based in community venues across the district, which is something that John is keen to promote.

He said: "A lot of the work we do is in community venues such as schools, libraries and churches.

"Many people feel more comfortable learning in a familiar atmosphere without the pressures of actually coming to the college.

"We also do a lot of work on employers' premises for NVQs, health and social care and training of teaching assistants.

"We are aiming to do more work with local employers such as apprenticeships with Lancaster City Council in areas like business administration, local care homes and other staff training.

"We intend to market our services to employers who want to provide good training packages for their staff."

John added: "We get a lot of retired learners, people in their 70s and 80s, attending the college as 'silver surfers' where they learn IT skills. We want to send out the message that it is never too late to learn."

This is true also for the principal himself, who has recently taken A-Level French to improve his communication on family holidays.

John says his two-year-old twins take up the majority of his spare time, but when he does get a minute he likes playing sports and keeping fit.

Visit www.theadultcollege.org for more information about the adult college.