Barbara Poole, Acorn’s former operations director has been awarded an MBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of her services to work-based learning in Wales.

Barbara, from Caerphilly, retired last year after spending ten years as operations director of Acorn’s training division.

She was instrumental in developing learning programmes in Wales which provided hundreds of individuals with an alternative to traditional roles allowing them to learn on the job, gaining valuable experience in the process.

Prior to her role at Acorn, Barbara began her career in training in 1984 with a UK national training provider. She carried out a variety of roles throughout England and Wales, before becoming a director in 2000.

In recent years, Barbara was made vice-chairman of the National Training Federation for Wales in the south east region. She was also a board director for the National Training Federation for Wales, and represented the training provider network in Wales on the Welsh Assembly Government Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship before retiring last summer.

Barbara said: “I’m extremely honoured to be awarded an MBE, it highlights the importance of work-based learning in Wales and I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work in this arena with Acorn representing the provider network.”

Established in 1992, Acorn has 39 branches across Wales, the West Country, the North West of England, London and the South East.

Acorn’s training arm, Acorn Learning Solutions trains more than 1,000 individuals each month across the UK.