Today

Earlier this year I got an email from a prison contact to tell me that a student I knew well had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and although he was being treated the prognosis wasn't good. At the same time the university contacted me to ask if I would go along and help with a presentation; he would be presented with his Diploma of Higher Education because it looked unlikely that he would complete his degree. The ceremony was arranged for last Friday but, sadly, he died on Tuesday. The ceremony was cancelled and I agreed to go along with whatever anyone thought was appropriate - his family then asked the prison if it was still possible to go ahead and that's what happened today.

I'm not going to go into details but it says something of who the student had become while in prison that the authorities wanted to mark his passing in this way. And the men on his wing and involved in education on other wings packed into the room to share the event.

The image is from the display in the Indian takeaway on the way home - I didn't fancy cooking tonight. I'm going to have a beer now.