"I had worked as a builder's labourer and wanted to move on to being a bricklayer. When I heard that all bricklayers had to have a Construction Skills Certification Scheme card, I thought my chance had gone and I would lose my job.

I hadn't attended school a lot when I was younger and I had problems with reading and writing. I relied on everyone else doing that for me and I got by as best I could.

My friend Steven though encouraged me to go to college to get the brickwork qualification. He had been to Coleg Powys in Brecon and he thought I could do it.

I thought about it a lot but felt nervous because I couldn't read and write. I decided to give it a go and went to the college in Brecon.

My first problem was the enrolment forms but Denzil, the tutor, was very helpful and arranged for me to have help and told me there was support for all the bookwork I would have to do.

It was very hard at first and I had good days and not so good days. The brickwork tutor took me through the practical bricklaying and Angela, the Learning Support tutor, came in to help me with the reading and writing.

After doing some tests they found I was dyslexic - so there had been a reason for my problems learning to read all along. I found the tests fascinating and I was surprised at how much I could do. With the extra help I began to read and write a little.

When I had to do the question books about brickwork I was able to talk through the answers and then Angela would write them in for me. She gave me other work to do for my reading and writing - some about brickwork but some things were for everyday things to do with my family and home life.

My family noticed I was reading things at home. I spotted a spelling mistake on my Christmas present. My daughter even told my tutor that she was fed up with me reading words on the television when they could all read them themselves but she was pleased I was doing it.

So far I have got my City & Guilds Basic Brickwork qualification and the City & Guilds Wordpower for my reading and writing. Now I am working towards the NVQ Brickwork Level 2 qualification. It's still a hard slog with the paperwork but with support I'm getting there.

Winning the award was a very strange feeling - after all these years I was winning an award for learning! It was a big surprise for me and my family. My mother couldn't get over it.

Most of my life I have been told I was too thick to do anything, now I can prove them wrong. The presentation evening is something we'll never forget."

Les' story was written in conjunction with his Learning Support Tutor.