Harome places to stay

Well worth a return visit - parent's 70th birthday weekend spent with family and friends at the Pheasant - superb.

Students versus Grayling

I thought these three short stories about the future student expectation versus AC Grayling's view of the world were interesting and worth a read in a year's time to see what happened.

Student Trascripts and HEDDs

There has been some interest in the initiative called the Higher Education Degree Database (HEDDs) and this article in the paper caught my eye, given our recent poor performance in league tables which has been partly attributed to the low numbers of first and second class honours awarded - is this a function of the student or the high tariff/hurdle that we choose to put in place for the student. Discuss.

Squidbeak

Spotted in this week's Saturday Guardian magazine letter's page a little review for Squidbeak. We already knew about this website from the mother of one of the authors who told us about it for a recent trip to the East Coast. We stayed at Thorpe Hall very highly recommended. They also like Prashad's and so do I! Probably won't go much wrong with any selections from here.

Nottingham Trent University good at keeping in touch

Interesting to see how other Universities manage the recruitment of new undergraduates. jacob is taking his A Level exams this week and hoping to go to NTU to study Business Management. They have been very good at personalising and keeping in touch throughout. Well Done to NTU - it's working.

Meeting Damon Hill

This Sunday went along to Oulton Park for the British Touring Car Championships. Last time we went it was a lovely sunny day and we went with another family and enjoyed a picnic with the kids who were still quite small. They have all grown up now so it was just me! The highlight of the day was meeting Damon Hill having blagged my way into the Michelin hospitality tent - I spotted him walking briskly from a motorhome and stalked him. Damon's son Josh was racing Formula Renault on Sunday.

Mind Certificate

Quite out of the blue there was a certificate in the post from Mind (mental health charity) for the money we raised last year in memory of Hugh. The four of us involved in the London 2 parix cycle ride raised over £4000 with gift aid. This was the personal contributions from friends and family - thank you everyone.