Southampton Institute

After a quick trip to Moss Chemist to help promote Ask about Medicines Week it was back to Southampton for the degree ceremony at Southampton Institute. Since election I have received many invitations to such events but diary commitments have meant that I have not been able to take up any of them.
They were very welcoming and seemed pleased I had made the effort but I was surprised at the assumption by one lecturer that I usually attended "grander" ceremonies. The ceremony itself was very traditional in format but there were some lighter moments such as when one young man gave the President his card as he went to shake hands, made a gesture that she should phone him and then gave her a kiss.

Later in the evening it was a more formal dinner and I was delighted that Cllr Parvin Damani (last year's Mayor of Southampton) was awarded the first ever Citizen's Fellowship (I think that was what it was called) to be awarded by the Institute. Anyone who has ever come across Parvin will know that it is thoroughly well deserved.