SPEECHES AND SCHOOLS

Invited back by my old school, St Philomena's, to give a talk on journalism. Took along a couple of members of the team from Tamezin magazine, and we had a very enjoyable morning. The girls wear a much nicer uniform than in my day, and wear it very correctly - kilted skirts and matching brown jerseys...in my day the really in-crowd used their (plain, brown, made of shiny serge) skirts over and over at the waist to turn them into hideous mini-skirts, but the 21st-century girls all look very demure in mid-calf kilts and all were extremely courteous and friendly.

In the evening, another school event - a delightful prizegiving at Bromley Civic Centre for Babington House School, Chislehurst. This is a deservedly popular and highly successful school. It was a really traditional prizegiving - we began with God Save the Queen, and ended with the Head Girls' Speech and in between some enchanting children sang, and there were awards and certificates presented...my task was to do this and also to make a speech, and then in due course two very small children staggered up with a simply enormous bouquet, and it was a very happy evening. During the course of her speech, the headmistess mentioned that the school had a new website, so I give a link to it here. It was a real privilege to share this special evening with this school, and to meet the girls and teachers and parents. I went home in a glow.