Aside from a few minor glitches, and in planning anything, there will always be one or two, the event went off without a hitch. Approximately 85 guests showed up, everyone dressed snazzily, and mingled with refreshments before the dining room opened. I spent most of this time handing out name cards and answering the question, "where is the coat room?"
If I had a digital camera, this post would include pictures, but sadly, such is not the case.
At any rate, we sat down to dinner with a slide show of Googled images of St Andrews (and Kate Middleton posing in her underwear - a picture that just sold for an obscene amount of money in London) and beautiful live harp music in the background. The salad was the best part of the dinner, except for the rolls. Having worked a few weddings last summer, I wasn't really surprised.
Between the main course and dessert, Doug Gibson traveled around the room with a mic, gathering stories from anyone interested in sharing their St Andrews experiences with the rest of the room. The first speaker was a woman who graduated in 1944!!
After dinner Louise Richardson addressed the guests, and did a wonderful job. I was very impressed with what she had to say and with her plans for the university. I hope she achieves the things she's set out to do. Recent graduates might be interested to know that the new library project had to be scrapped due to little to no financial support from the government, and instead the less-costly renovation plans have focused on increasing seating ... and books. The university has bought land out by Guardbridge in order to house graduate students and unused library stores, among other things - and I believe some of that acreage has been earmarked for a bio-mass plant. She mentioned other interesting projects, but sadly I didn't take notes and can't remember any more. She fielded several questions about tuition (no mention of the outrageous hikes in England), the library, student demographics, and the Prince and soon-to-be-Princess's visit to the campus last month. Apparently the couple has fond memories of their experiences there. Who doesn't, I would like to know?
Which reminds me. Of course the biggest piece of news surrounding the university at this time is not, as you might think (but you probably know better), the university's anniversary, but rather the university's status as top matchmaking university in the [world]. Taking advantage of this were GlobalTV, who attended the event in order to interview any guests who met and fell in love with their partners while at St Andrews. Somewhat unflatteringly, the Principal and Vice Chancellor gave half the credit for this status to "isolation." Hmm. Making the best of a small selection, perhaps? I kid.
Door prizes were awarded, I stood up to be acknowledged for my role in the planning of the event, and walked home with the centerpiece, a small bush of Scottish heather - but that completes the surfeit of interesting news about the event.
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