Graduations mark end of Lancaster couple’s 40-year campus connection

In the early 1980s, Ian Sinker and his future wife Mandy were students on the Lancaster campus which is now part of the University of Cumbria.

Transcript

00:00 So I'm here today on my last day working for the University. I've worked at the University

00:07 full time for 24 years and part time prior to that. Prior to that I was a student and

00:14 we got married and met at the University, so, of St Martin's College before the University,

00:20 so we've got a long connection. So today's a really nice way of ending the relationship

00:25 with the University in this way. A lot of my work has been around developing projects

00:31 and approaches to actually meet local skills and educational needs, so it's been a real

00:35 privilege to be part of those projects over the years and hopefully leaving the University

00:39 in a stronger place to take that legacy forward. I've been a teacher and in the teaching profession

00:44 for 24 years, having gone back to St Martin's, having done my first degree there to do my

00:49 PGCE, so I've been in teaching a fair old time. I retired yesterday, so this is the

00:55 first day of my retirement, but I've worked in and around Lancaster and Morecambe for

00:59 many years and most recently in Preston. The transformative power of education is something

01:07 we both have been passionate about all our lives and we've had that long association

01:12 with the University of Cumbria and originally St Martin's College. As Ian said, we met

01:17 there, we became best friends there and then ended up getting married there too. So we've

01:23 had a long relationship which has just been very empowering for us and a delight really.

01:29 So it's a lovely time today to be able to finish it off with this celebration today.

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