It has taken me 63 years to finally get to that graduation ceremony but for all the wait, it didn’t disappoint. Our local racecourse was a great venue with plenty of scope for good photographs along with a lovely, sunny mid-November day.

I was at the racecourse to receive my post graduate certificate in Creative and Critical Writing, the first part of a MA course. I had already passed my first degree in English and Theology some years ago, to be followed by a journalism diploma just over 20 years ago but for the first I was out of the country for the ceremony and for the second there wasn’t one. So, having attended both of my boys graduation ceremonies it was now their mother’s turn! Fortunately, my oldest boy, Adam, was able to take a day off work and join myself and my husband, Angus, which was a lovely surprise. It felt odd this time for me to be the centre of attention and to celebrate with some of the other youngsters on my course.

Plenty of celebration and hat throwing was had by all.

Will the experience make me a better writer? I hope it may, especially helping me to write more clearly and concisely and paying more attention to grammar and punctuation – important considerations on the course.

I wish I had been able to spend more time on campus, of course, many of the lectures had to be online due to Covid. However, it did give me a much needed focus for my writing during lockdown when I know many other writers struggled to find that. All in all, I’m so glad I did the course and I do feel a certain amount of achievement.