For thousands of students and their families it is one of the proudest weeks of their life ... and it starts in Huddersfield today with a major procession through the town centre.
Around 4,500 students will this week take part in Huddersfield University’s graduation ceremonies. This year’s July ceremonies will run for the longest period ever of seven days, starting today and culminating on Tuesday, July 23 although there will be no weekend ceremonies.
From 2.10pm today there will be a colourful procession of students and staff – including many of the honorary award recipients – and headed by the Skelmanthorpe Brass Band.
The procession will wind its way through the town. It starts from Nelson Mandela Corner next to the Central Library via King Street, New Street and Princess Street to Huddersfield Town Hall.
Students who have achieved Bachelor and Masters degrees, plus other qualifications and doctorates in a huge range of subject areas, will wear academic robes and headgear as they attend the sequence of ceremonies at Huddersfield Town Hall and the university’s own St Paul’s Hall.
The university will also welcome a roster of eminent people who will receive Honorary Doctorates of the University at the ceremonies.
These include actor Robert Powell and Ashley Jackson.
Robert Powell, who is to receive an honorary award, is one of Britain’s favourite actors.
He found fame in the 1977 TV series Jesus of Nazareth. He starred in the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps and reprised the role of its central character Richard Hannay in a 1980s TV series. Recent TV roles have included a six-year stint in BBC1’s Holby City.
Ashley Jackson’s evocative and distinctive paintings of brooding moorlands are some of the best-known images of the Yorkshire landscape and have been exhibited around the world.
His determination to make art accessible to all has meant that he furnished illustrations for a BT phone book cover and a Yorkshire Bank debit card.
He has made many television appearances, including the long-running YTV series A Brush with Ashley.
Others to receive special awards are:
Michael Woodhead who is Huddersfield-born and a long-serving member of its University’s Council. He began work as a stockbroker’s clerk when he left school and later built up Huddersfield firm Battye, Wimpenny and Dawson into one of the north’s major firms in its field. He established the Michael Woodhead Charitable Trust, which has donated many thousands of pounds to a variety of deserving causes. He returned to business life as chairman or director of four public companies and chaired the Prince’s Trust in Yorkshire.
Professor Colin Carlile is a leading experimental physicist currently playing a central role in the development of a major new research facility – the European Spallation Source (ESS) at Lund in Sweden. This is the latest in a sequence of key appointments at important scientific sites and institutes that have been held by Prof Carlile during a career that began in the early 1970s.
Former Huddersfield University student Fatou Lamin Faye who has risen to be an education minister in her native Gambia. In 1996, after embarking on a successful career in training and lecturing, she came to the UK for Master’s degree study at the University of Huddersfield.
Huddersfield University graduate Kavita Oberoi who is now established as one of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs. Her motivational skills have led to her making several TV appearances in high profile programmes such as The Secret Millionaire. After graduation she landed a job with Bayer Pharmaceuticals. After eight years, she founded Oberoi Consulting and in 2009 was highlighted by HBOS as one of Britain’s 100 Most Entrepreneurial Women.
Duncan Druce is a composer and violinist who has lived in the Holme Valley for 30 years and lectured at Huddersfield University. In the 1960s he came to prominence as a performer of contemporary music. He has also achieved considerable success for his reconstructions of incomplete or lost music by composers such as Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. His acclaimed version of Mozart’s Requiem has had many performances and recordings.
Ty Unwin studied music at Huddersfield University and did his first TV commission while completing his degree. His career then led him to become one of the UK’s top composers of film and TV music including penning the soundtrack to the BBC’s Vets in the Wild. He has worked as a keyboardist for a roster of artists, including Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Paul Young and New Model Army.