Graduation Ceremony

July 19th, 2005; University of Glamorgan

Well, it's official. I'm now Ryan Perry B.Sc (Hons).

Below are the pictures from the event which were taken with my digital camera. The official graduation pictures will be about 4-6 weeks yet. They'll be up when I get them though!

Before the pictures, a few words about what happened on the day.

Left the house at 11:45am, so I'd be up there nice and early in case there were any hold ups. Got up there at 12:15pm, and went to pay for my photos, since (as you'd know if you read my blog) I couldn't do it online.

That went without a hitch, and I was too early to pick up the tickets, so I went and got my gown. Again, no queues, no hitches, and walked the long distance across the corridor to the dressing room, where I met Dave.

The woman in the dressing room helped me to put on my gown (like a big coat), put the hood over my head, showed me where to fix it to, and showed me how to wear my cap. As can be seen from the third picture below, I done a pretty good job.

So, so far I hadn't had any hold-ups, and was beginning to think leaving the house early was a bit cautious. Wandered up to the union, and picked up my tickets, again without any queues. Now, with an hour to kill, me and Dave decided to spend it in the union.

At around quarter past one, Mam and Dad turned up, so I walked down from the union to meet them. Mam insisted on taking a few pictures, and even said "Hang on, let me get another one for Gran". The look I gave her was enough to tell her that she had put her foot in it, yet I still had to remind her that she was using a digital camera, and therefore she needed only take one picture, and can print off multiple copies back at home...

So we wandered up to the Rec Centre (up at the top of the hill, you should have heard mam moaning about her having to walk so far in her heels; I had warned her...), and there was already a queue forming to get in, and this was 15 minutes before the doors opened. It didn't matter for me, because I had a numbered seat, but Mam and Dad wanted, for some unknown reason, to get a good view of the stage. So, when the doors opened, we went in, they went through one door and I went in another.

So we were all sitting there, waiting for the ceremony to start, which it did at precisely 2:30pm. Loads of speeches at the start, then the graduates had to go up on stage.

So I was waiting there, and my name was called, so I went up on stage, and did the funny handshake, then walked off the other side of the stage and removed my hat. The funny handshake, in case you're wondering, is like something you'd find in the Masons. You place your hands together (like you're praying), then the Pro-Chancellor places his hands around yours. Like I said, a bit funny, and a bit strange...

So then I had to wait for the others to do the funny handshake, then after the closing speeches the ceremony was over. The staff lined the central aisle, and the graduates filed out between them. They clapped us as we walked out.

Then Mam, Dad and I went down to the buffet, hence the pictures below of me eating (!). Mam was enthralled by the fact they had managed to hang chandeliers inside a tent...

In the evening, I went out with Tom, Rachel, Karen and Karen's boyfriend Mathew. But there aren't any pictures of that.

Right, the pictures are below, I've placed a few security measures on them. If you want a copy of a certain picture, email me at the usual address, saying which picture you want a copy of, and if I judge you worthy, I'll send you a link where you can download one from.

Pictures