Mizuno Clubs

Yesterday, was my daughter's graduation and I had a lovely day, sitting in the sunshine, walking, not having to think, or make any decisions or tell anyone what to do. In fact all I had to do all day was do what I was told, take photos and smile and talk to the people we were with, who I wished I'd met at the beginning of my daughter's time at college, rather than the end. My son got on famously with my daughter's best friend's grandad, which was lovely to see and apart from an awkward moment when I head butted my daughter's boyfriend's mother I think I managed to be normal for the day.

I've made that sound much worse than it was. You see, in my attempt to be normal I thought this was just the kind of social occasion that requires kissing strangers on the cheek. So, on meeting her for the first time I took her hand and leaned in to do the social kissing thing. She, being a lovely, kind caring woman, who had read or been told about my Kissing Cousins blog Kissing Cousins Blog, tried to make my life easier by pulling away, which caused me to bash my head into hers, quite violently. I do hope it didn't hurt too much.

Graduations are funny events. They are bitter-sweet moments that both celebrate and commiserate. There is pomp and ceremony, photographs and speeches but it is really all about saying goodbye. It's like a wedding with a funeral at the end, rather than a party. 

Like many weddings (and possibly funerals) there is an invited guest that no one is quite sure why they are there. When I graduated, I remember being quite upset that someone (I can't remember who) had been given a degree without even working for it. At this graduation, however, Una Stubbs, receiving her honorary degree was met with all round approval. This blog is actually meant to be about her but I need to finish describing the day, so I'll come back to it.

I've been to a few graduations and mostly they have been very serious affairs, where you are stuck on a hard seat, behind a pillar in a cold cathedral, doomed to only being able to see the bits the cameraman picks up on the screen. I think for my graduation my parents were actually in a different room. This graduation was in the Curve theatre, which is an amazing space, with comfortable seats and no pillar, although I was expecting something a little more camp. The Vice Chancellor of the university is not only a Bnoc (big name on campus) he is also a Bnot (big name on Twitter) and he comes across as a camp, left wing, football loving, fun loving person. He wasn't there on the day (probably because it was Saturday and he had football to watch) but somehow I was expecting pink glitter to be fired out of cannons at the end, while the Take That song was played and everybody cheered. 

Anyway, back to Una Stubbs. The head of the media school gave a long speech about her life and achievements. He referred to her, always, as Ms Una Stubbs and slightly mispronounced Una as Oono. The Long Suffering Husband kept getting excited as he heard 'MsOonoStubbs

' and thought the speech was now about something he could relate to: his favourite brand of golf clubs. 

After the speech it was Una's turn to speak. I instantly fell in love with her. I can relate to a woman who starts a speech with a joke that wanders around a room like tumbleweed, leaving the audience wondering if the speaker is a batty old woman who has finally lost her marbles. She said, "It's great to be here in Liverpool today," with a wry smile and a chuckle. "Do you think she knows she's in Leicester?" the man next to me asked his wife. When she realised the joke hadn't worked she thanked the man for the speech apologised for its length and said, "I'm sorry I've lived such a long time." The audience laughed. Phew. Batty old woman forgiven.

The reason it was a long speech was entirely down to how amazing Una Stubbs has been in her life and how under rated. She started her career as a teenager, when she became the cover girl for Rowntree chocolates and danced as part of the Palladium chorus at the age of 16.  She was Sandy in Summer Holiday with Cliff Richard, Rita in Til Death do us part, Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge, Miss Bat in The Worst Witch, Mrs Hudson in Sherlock. She was on loads of game shows like Give us a Clue and presented things like The Big Painting Challenge. She is a serious theatre actress, with credits including La Cage aux Follies and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

She was thrilled to receive her honorary degree. She had the whole audience captivated.  Even the students waiting to collect their own degrees, stopped worrying about whether they were going to trip or remember how to doff their cap and hung off every word. She told funny stories, gave good advice and said, "I've never been given an award, except for my three boys," 

How is that possible? She should have something. In fact, I think we need to start a campaign to get this hard working, funny, humble, invisible woman an OBE or an Oscar.