Inaugural legacy awards honour much loved academic

16 July 2017

Lynn Train Memorial Prizes awarded to Joe Oakley and Elise Wylie

The memory of a much loved University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) academic is being honoured by the inaugural award of two graduation prizes.

When Lynn Train passed away suddenly in July last year, a group of her students decided to fundraise in her name.

After discussions with her husband, Rod, who is the course leader for UCLan’s event management degree, it was decided the money would be used to create the Lynn Train Memorial Prizes for Enterprise and for Consultancy.

The first recipients were Joe Oakley and Elise Wylie, who were presented with the awards by Gina Sinclair and Jared Handley, two of the fundraisers.

"She taught modules on enterprise and consultancy to tourism, hospitality and events students so we thought it would be a nice idea to offer prizes at graduation for the best performing student in each of the two modules."

Rod said: “When it happened, four event management students started a Go Fund Me page to help me with funeral expenses. It was an absolutely lovely gesture from them but I didn’t need the money for the funeral.

“They raised just under £2,000, which was a huge amount of money, so we met up during the year to discuss how we could use the money as a legacy for Lynn. She taught modules on enterprise and consultancy to tourism, hospitality and events students so we thought it would be a nice idea to offer prizes at graduation for the best performing student in each of the two modules, hence the Lynn Train Memorial Prize for Enterprise and Lynn Train Memorial Prize for Consultancy were born.”

It is not the first time Joe has won a prize during his time at UCLan. In addition to collecting this award, he also represented the University at the national Eventice finals in London and won first prize.

"It’s a real honour to be chosen as one of the recipients of the inaugural Memorial Prize for Lynn. I couldn't be prouder to say I'll be graduating from UCLan with a first-class honours degree."

The 21-year-old, from Thornton-Cleveleys, said: “It’s a real honour to be chosen as one of the recipients of the inaugural Memorial Prize for Lynn. I couldn't be prouder to say I'll be graduating from UCLan with a first-class honours degree. The last three years have enabled me to grow, not only academically but also as a person. I have made lifelong friends and learnt valuable life lessons.”

Elise, 22, from Cleveleys received the consultancy prize in additional to graduating with a First. She said: “I am thrilled to have been awarded the Lynn Train Memorial prize for Consultancy. My time studying event management at UCLan has flown by and I feel that over the last three years, I have grown as a person.”