TRAINEE accountant Joyce Atherton is managing to achieve balance in her life, as well as the books, after getting back into learning.

The mother-of-three said she became a virtual recluse after she was struck down in 1985 with the eye condition retinitis pigmentosa, which leads to tunnel vision.

"I was registered blind in 1994 and it meant I could no longer work in nurseries and crches as I had been," she said.

"I became house-bound. I became a recluse. I just felt I could not go out, I felt really self conscious and that people were looking at me."

But then members of the Royal National Institute for the Blind persuaded her to think about retraining, and she has now returned to Darlington College of Technology - where she studied 22 years ago.

Mrs Atherton is studying on the Accounting and Associated Technician NVQ Level Three course and works in the college's finance department, accompanied by guide dog Vespa.

"I was absolutely petrified when they said go and do a course because I had been out of education for so long," said Joyce. "But once I got in, it was nice to be back studying."