'NECLL team conceived, built, organised and taught four years of incredible programme. We achieved national recognition with the National Award for Lifelong Learning for creativity and innovation. We ran more than 5,000 individual sessions in venues across the city. We built innovative new partnerships with some of the region’s great cultural platforms. We wheeled and dealed. Plotted and schemed. Cajoled and trumpeted. We kept costs low and quality high. We made mistakes, learned from them and made things better. We stuck to our values. We believe that the NECLL team, all of us, technical, the office, the academics and management and above all our tutors, have been the most creative, committed team in the sector.'

'The closure of the Centre brings to an end a great tradition of adult education in the North East, stretching back to the days of Joseph Cowen. That tradition survived endless crisis and change, forcing the Centre, in its various guises, to reinvent itself many times over and even make an unprecedented move from one university to another. You know how hard we worked, and how hard we tried to make it work.

'The closure also has national significance. With the loss of so many of our sister departments over the last several years, a great national tradition of liberal adult education provided by publicly funded universities is coming to an end. We know you will lament that as much as we.”