Our Chris has been taking an Open University degree in Computing for the past few years, and last Friday was his graduation ceremony. Neither myself or my other brother Nick even went to university, let alone graduated, so this was a reasonably big deal for our family. Hence we all got dolled-up and made the trek to Bridgewater Hall in Manchester (home of the Hallé Orchestra, apparently) on a baking-hot June day.

Needless to say, the hall wasn’t air conditioned, so it was kind of uncomfortable. It was also quite a long and boring ceremony (imagine clapping complete strangers for an hour-and-a-half). However, I was very proud to see my bro get up to collect his… well, he wasn’t actually given anything, he just received a handshake from the VIP on the stage. I was a bit surprised he wasn’t handed a scroll or something, but then maybe I’ve been misled by TV and the movies!

(from right to left)
Me, Paula, Dad, Chris, Mum, Nick, Sarah-Jane (Nick’s girlfriend)