Out of Cyprus: Tim's graduation day

So, at last the day dawned which was the primary reason for our making a trip to the UK at this time of year. After three years of study, finishing in April when he handed in his final assignments, yesterday was the official date of graduation.

Being an organised sort of person, Tim had his suit cleaned and collected the day before, ironed his shirt, and was ready in plenty of time:


Newman University does not have a large hall for graduation, so they rent the Birmingham Symphony Hall for these occasions. It's not a very large university, but is considered one of the best for education-related degrees and teacher training, and has sufficient graduating students that even with the size of Symphony Hall, there were two ceremonies during the day. Ours was in the morning.

So after registrating and sorting out various other things, Tim dressed up in the robes he was renting (at great cost) for the day:


A nice security guard took this photo of us with him:


We were sitting on what's called Level Five of Symphony Hall, so had a good view of the building which we had never been in before (although Tim has been to a few concerts there, including some in which he sung and one in which he played their grand piano).


For twenty minutes or so before the ceremony started, there was an organ recital - doors closed to incoming visitors at 11.15 and the official proceedings began at 11.30, with various important guests and bigwigs processing in, and taking their seats at the front:


The students were all sitting in their robes (but without the hats) in a block in the centre, and after some careful study we did manage to locate Tim, who is right in the middle of this picture, at the end of a row holding the green folder we were all given with the order of service and general information about Newman:


There were various short speeches by different people, and then the actual graduation part where each student walked across the stage to shake hands and receive their certificates was fairly rapid - about ten seconds each, I suppose. This was Tim's moment:

Here he is at the point at which he shook hands and magically became a BA:


The whole thing took a little over an hour and a half, ending with a prayer and then a lengthy procession of dignitaries followed by students. Tim had decided that he did not want to pay (and queue) for official photos, so Richard took some instead, and we were quite pleased with this one:


We did some more photos afterwards, then - to our surprise and delight - bumped into an old friend, who was headmaster at the primary school which Daniel and Tim attended before we moved to Cyprus. So we chatted and caught up with him for a few minutes.

By this stage we were feeling quite hungry; Newman does not provide refreshments (unlike some universities) so we had arranged to go out to lunch with the family - six of us staying here currently - at a local pub/carvery. With the crowds and traffic, and a few minutes when we couldn't even move the car, it was 2.30pm by the time we sat down to eat. Far too late by my body clock, but we had a good meal.

So, it's been quite a year for us seeing Daniel and Becky getting married, and now Tim graduating.

The end of another era

Nearly three years ago, Tim and I flew from Cyprus to the UK to start the process that would enable him to begin student life at Newman University.

Today, the first stage of his student life has come to a close. His third-year dissertation and three other assignments were due to be handed in at the beginning of May, but since Easter is approaching and we're going to Carlisle for Daniel and Becky's wedding on Monday, Tim wanted everything finished this week. Preferably by today.

So he's been, so to speak, on the treadmill for the past ten days or so. Reading, researching, typing, compiling biographies, printing, agonising over what to say. The dissertation was basically organised, with just a little writing left to do, and there was one assignment due a couple of days ago, which he handed in at the end of last week. Since I came out to help with proof-reading nearly two weeks ago, he's spent every moment, just about, working. I've been out and about, and spent time with friends, which has been fun... and I've also proof-read about 25,000 words.

Yesterday, about 10.00pm, the process finally came to an end. I sat with him as he made a couple of last minor changes to his dissertation conclusion, and then he printed out all 62 pages (including appendices) twice.

This morning, he appeared at the front door looking like the Chancellor on budget day. He did offer to go and get his satchel so as to look more authentic, but we felt that would be overkill...


Since Richard's now here and has a rental car, we drove him to Newman, as it's rather quicker than going by bus:


As well as the important paperwork, Tim had a bag of books to return to the library:


There were thirteen of them in all, and he knew he would have to pay fines for some of them which he had forgotten to renew.

He made it up the steps with his heavy load....


We had to sign in, then he took us to the library so he could return all the books, and pay the fine. It turned out that although he had his wallet, he'd forgotten to bring any money, other than about 90p.. so I gave him the extra pound he needed. And the two pounds for getting his dissertation copies spiral bound with rather smart red covers.

Then, finally, we arrived in the university hub so that, perhaps for the last time, he could fill in the green forms necessary for handing in assignments:


While he was doing that, I took the opportunity to photograph the evidence:


We were slightly confused in that there was information on the table saying that dissertations had to be bound in maroon covers, and these were red.. but apparently they were the correct Newman colours.

Then, at last, Tim headed to the desk. The lady behind was very helpful and encouraging, and pleased to see the dissertation, although apparently she has already accepted two or three, so he wasn't the first to finish.


And finally, a special bonus reward for three years of hard work... yes! A free Newman rubber band to hold the two copies of his dissertation together!


I asked if he felt at all sad to have come to the end of his degree course, and he said no, he was very pleased to have finished all the work. And, all being well, he'll be back at Newman in September to start his PGCE course.

Oh, and when I said that Tim had been on the treadmill this week, it wasn't totally metaphorical...