The end of an era (almost).

My husband and I spent a great evening here , with wonderful company and stimulating conversation during my annual gatecrashing get-together with friends at the Open University residential school.

Having done two of these myself - one here in Sussex and one in North Yorkshire - I can vouch for the fact that the OU is second-to-none in its delivery of these practical courses and they have been amazing experiences. Much to the consternation and incredulity of the students, however, sadly the majority of the residential schools are coming to an end soon.

Surrounded by people who've spent the day in labs or out in the field, it really hits home how important it is to have this lifeline of human contact and hands-on experience in a sometimes quite lonely existence as a distance-learning student. Hopefully the new replacement courses which have been developed will go some way to preserving a little of this but it still won't ever be the same to me.