Graduation; Long Live Class of 2014

“Enjoy your moment...” Jude Davies smiled to me, as I shuffled up next to him on the Cathedral stage.  Remember this moment, I said in the back of my mind; remember this moment and don’t trip.

Tuesday 14^th October was my Graduation day and let me tell you, it’s been a long time coming. Whilst I enjoyed my prom, back in Secondary school, and I had fun – Graduation was my prom. I was far more excited to go into the Cathedral that day than I was to take a bus ride to The Weald Of Kent golf club.

As a congregation, we stood with our shaking hands listening intently to the man whispering our instructions – where to go, how many steps to take, shake with your right hand, don’t forget to smile, don’t panic, don’t trip. With a group of more mature ladies before me in the graduation ceremony, I felt a little more at ease – I’d get to see them do it first so no excuses to screw up. My beautiful friend, who my boyfriend still refers to as Dolphin, was before me on the list too so the excitement within me bubbled for her as she walked to Jude and then as her name was called, to Professor Dame Mary Fagan (DCVO) at centre stage for a quick handshake before being then ushered off stage left to receive her Diploma packet.

Tentatively I stepped forward wincing as the gentleman at the stand called out my name, my full name; Alexandra Guinevere Brookman (pipe down). Right, left, right, left and I heard something I didn’t expect. A little cheer came from the back of the longest nave in the UK and I smiled – my parents, my grandmother and my partner were faces in the crowd that I couldn’t quite make out, but I knew they were there – I could hear them.

“It seems you brought your fan club with you.” Dame Mary Fagan said, shaking my hand.
“It seems so.” I nodded, positively glowing.

Having returned to my seat, my eyes welled up a little. As they read off our names, I couldn’t have been more proud. Proud of my friends for getting through everything that they did, proud of myself for giving the best that I could and proud of my family for supporting me and travelling all the miles to see me graduate.

Getting tickets for my family was a pain – I know some of you will roll your eyes at this, but my parents are divorced and both respectively remarried so that’s four parents before I even think about anyone else. I asked for four which was the maximum ticket allowance for my graduation slot, and told my Mum and Dad that they would be invited (given that I was guaranteed two). When four came in the mail a few weeks before grad, my heart sunk – I wanted my partner to be there, but what about my parents partners, or even my grandmother? Long story short, I sunk to a new level and emailed the graduation organisers playing the ‘divorced’ parents card to see if I could weedle any more tickets – eventually, after no reply, I decided that I was being silly. I’m sure there were other people who didn’t get as many tickets as I did, so I just needed to count myself lucky and make do – luckily both parents understood that I would invite my partner and my grandmother, along with my Mum and Dad to keep things happy and neutral in both camps.

After the ceremony and an emotional ‘clap-out’ from the staff and dignitaries in attendance, I managed to snap a few pictures with friends who graduated the same day, and then it was off to lunch. Returning to River Cottage for a post-graduation meal was the best choice I think I could have made, given the difference in tastes across my family. Having been to River Cottage in it’s opening week, I was pleased to return again but on this occasion with a new menu and at a different time – River Cottage feels different in the day time, in a really nice way. The atmosphere is still sophisticated, clean and happy but there’s a relaxing chilled-out vibe spreading across both floors. They were busy, but definitely not packed – possibly just a standard mid-week lunch time. I didn’t manage to catch our servers’ name, but she was delightfully laid back and more than happy to engage in banter with my Father who thinks he’s just hilarious.

If there was one thing less than brilliant at River Cottage, it would be that there bar was super-understocked. Maybe they just got hit with a big rush and hadn’t anticipated it, but it did create an awkward repetition of “Oh I’m sorry, we’re actually out of that” and “Oh, we’re also out of that too...” Still – River Cottage shines in all other aspects of hospitality.

Waiting three weeks for pictures to come through the post from Official Graduate Photographer Tempest is going to be the longest wait of my life, just because I know there are so many other family members who would love to see them and needless to says selfies with my friends probably just don’t cut it. It’s a week after graduation now and the pictures online have just about stopped surfacing, but then again it was Grad Ball on Friday so I’m in the midst of another surge of photos – some flattering, some not so. Another night of dancing like we knew our lives would never be the same. 

My friends and I have come so far in, what has turned out to be, three very short years. We’ve traded our BOP outfits for our Grad Hats and we threw them into the air with what can only be described as cliché happiness and panic that they might land in a puddle. Although it was raining on the day, that didn’t matter too much - it was annoying before hand, but after it was quite refreshing. The nerves and stress got to me so much, for some reason, that as soon as I was on my own and walking into the Cathedral the sight of my my ex-housemate Demi and my ex-coursemate Sarah turned me to jelly and I couldn’t stop the tears. I’m not even too sure what happened, but full blown ugly-tears happened and that was before the ceremony!
(Even in the term ex-housemate/coursemate makes me feel weird.)

As each person I knew took to the stage, received various screams and shouts from the audience, I couldn’t help but flick mentally through the pictures I had tacked on my university walls of my freshman halls and every room since then – so many different faces painted as so many different jungle animals, not to mention toy story characters as well as bloodied and beaten ‘emergency’ cases and multiple Halloweens to boot.  Over the three years my friends and I have forged a team of rebels and bohemians who can take on pretty much anything and I am so proud of us for coming out the other side of University a better group people. Now I get to look back at the photos surfacing online from this week of us in our glad rags holding our heads up like heroes for our parents to take our pictures.

I distinctly remember looking through the haze of people milling about in their post-graduation glow to my Gracie, who has achieved more than any of us this year, and hear her say to her proud Dad who was snapping away with this fancy DSLR “I just want to go and take pictures with my friends!” – I took this prompt as my cue to bomb her photo.

Speaking of parents, I was reintroduced to Demi’s parents who have always been so generous and lovely, to Sarah’s mother who smiled at me and shouted “Oh, the famous Lex!” and also Brett’s Mum who told me I was “a very brave girl, indeed” for choosing to wear the shoes that I did. The shoes were actually a last minute decision; black pair of lace heels that everyone told me were too high for the occasion – I stand by my decision and I rocked it.

As I draw this mammoth post to an end, I know this is going to be an incredibly morbid thought but it has to be said.  If the time comes when you and I aren’t close anymore, not like we are now, please know how important you all are to me.  Let’s tell our children about all the silly things we did with all the crazy people and show them the pictures to prove it. Thank you to all my friends, my family and everyone in between.

Although what we’ve had this week may have been the end of an era, it was the start of an age.

All the photos used in this blog are courtesy of my friends and I - particularly Sarah White, Katy Loveless, Demi Snape, Mr.Snape, Grace Latter, Mr.Latter and others.
Long Live (We Will Be Remembered) by Taylor Swift.  (Skip to 1:45)

Review: Dinner at River Cottage Canteen

Winchester seems to have a vast number of new restaurants popping up left-right and centre; Cote, Rick Stein and Wagamamas are all set to move in. The most recent, opening just last week in Abbey Gardens, is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen.

 

Having been invited to eat at The Cottage for a pre-opening dry-run, I was very excited to see what they’d done to a building that I’d seen stand empty and unused for so long.

Upon arrival we were met at the door by charming waiting staff who escorted us to the perfect table overlooking the predominance of the restaurant. What was in danger of being a very cold building has been draped in the most beautiful rope lights that show bare filament glowing yellow; the light and candles bounce off white walls and creates an atmosphere of warmth and happiness which is only accentuated by smiley, chatty staff who are happy to advise and suggest dishes. 

Our waiter, Henry, was friendly, happy and knew everything that he should have. His personal recommendations were useful throughout the night and made the whole experience more personable.  It was really nice to go to a nice event but there be an undeniable chilled-out feeling; no one was stressing out or panicking or hovering. 

The menu was larger than expected seven dishes to start, seven for mains, three sharing boards and the choice of six side dishes. Unfortunately (for me) I don’t eat fish and the menu was quite fish heavy, but for anyone else I imagine having the choice was wonderful – everything I saw coming out of the kitchen, including Fish, looked wonderfully presented and very generously portioned. I had the beef brisket which was delightful and still so wonderfully pink in the middle and James has the Wild Boar Chop which needs a steak knife but is beautifully cooked none the less.

 On a wall near our table was a little chalk board which sported the local produce companies – it was nice to know, really nice actually, that people care where their food is coming from. If anyone has seen Hugh’s River Cottage television show, you’ll know how hot he is on local and responsible sourcing. Brimfield’s vegetables is just one of the companies that River Cottage is sourcing produce from – Brimfield’s sell all different kinds of fruits and vegetables as well as a vast variety of bread and eggs (sourced locally and ethically) and have set up shop in Kingsworthy, so not far at all! 

Other flavours and food stuffs that seemed quite popular throughout the River Cottage night were pumpkins and squashes; peppering the menu with autumnal flavours as well as apple and elderflower flavourings stocking up the bar in their own Apple & Elderflower Champagne, Apple Mojitos and more. 

Whilst on the subject of the bar, I’d like to jump-up-and-down praising River Cottage for sourcing local ale too; not just local ale but Saxon Bronze - a local ale made by one man entirely on his own.  Steve used to work for the Flower Pots Brewery in Cheriton that has given us Gooden’s Gold, Perridge Pale and more. Now, he works on his own at his King Alfred’s Brewery in Winall, Winchester brewing his ales less than two miles away from River Cottage.  His Saxon Bronze is so popular that he sometimes struggles to keep up with the demand, other times he has enough spare time to whip up some of his Winchester Pale Ale which is equally as well received. 

Dessert was probably my favourite part of the night – I don’t often eat desserts, but when I do I like to choose carefully. Spoilt for choice at River Cottage we shared the Lavender Pannacotta that came with autumn raspberries, wood sorrel and vanilla shortbread AND we also had some salted caramel ice cream on the side. Salted Caramel by Jude’s Ice Cream is also a cleverly sourced product – Jude’s is from Winchester and there are currently six magnificent flavours. For a company started by one man, who named his company after his wife, they’ve done miraculously! The pannacotta was perfect; again the portioning was huge (I am NOT complaining) and we could only just finish. The lavender flavour was just right and was far from the overwhelming soapy taste you can sometimes get. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time. The guests all seemed happy and excited to see what was in store for them and that’s one of the nicest things – locals being excited about local business that use local produce.  Would I go back? For sure, I’ve already booked a table for my Graduation day so my parents and grandmother can enjoy it too. My Nan’s very opinionated so we’ll see what she makes of it!

So, to everyone at River Cottage especially Henry, Becky and Mark – thank you for a wonderful night. We’ll be back soon and we’re telling everyone how great you are.