No-one could dispute that summer had arrived last week. The temperature soared and in an office with no air conditioning like ours fans were on full pelt and the windows were uncharacteristically wide open. After all our grumbling about the lack of any warm sunny weather it wasn’t long before you could hear the cry “it’s too hot” reverberating around the office.
My week began in London at the graduation of my daughter. She has spent the last 3 years at the University of the Arts and graduation was at the Festival Hall. There was a lively array of creative students enjoying this rite of passage and celebrating with family and friends but none of them were as colourful as their chancellor Grayson Perry who despite his elaborate and eccentric dress spoke to the students with wisdom and candour.
Back at the office it was business as usual. The commute may be getting easier as the schools break up for the holidays but there seem to be no let-up in the transactions still to complete this summer and deals coming in to keep us busy. We are fitting around this much planning for the autumn and have already got booked an exciting line up of seminars. Look out for further details on our website. Our staff council were apparently even discussing Christmas party venues but that is a stage too far for me – I haven’t had my summer holiday yet!
There have been graduations closer to home too as I know students from University of Teesside graduated last week. This is the first time these events have taken place in the summer and this year they have been conducted on the campus. This is such a magnificent set up now what better time to showcase these facilities to friends and families of their students. One of my partners, Erica Turner attended the law graduation and met the recipient of the prize Jacksons sponsor for outstanding achievement. Erica is a graduate of the university herself and enjoyed catching up with familiar faces. It must have been rewarding for the tutors too to see one of their students attend as a partner of a local practice and encouraging for the students as they embark on legal careers.
While Erica joined the students in their celebrations I got to go to the North East England Chamber of Commerce Presidents Club lunch #NEEChamberevents. The guest speaker was Jonathan Ruffer chair of Auckland Castle Trust who is overseeing restoration projects to revitalise the former palace home of the Bishops of Durham. I had heard about Kynren the outdoor spectacular but had no idea about the other developments at the castle and massive investment taking place in and around the castle and I can’t wait to visit the new galleries and refurbished castle and gardens once they are open. Seeing all the families picnicking in the castle grounds it was really tough to go back to the office to sort a desk full of paperwork.
