Returning to Clare, as we do most summers, always feels deeply special. And although yesterday much of the College was under renovation, and the weather wasn’t as glorious as normal, it was still good to be back.
Cambridge is always where I feel most myself and at home. And it is no exaggeration to say that those eight years, first at Homerton College and then at Clare, changed my life and the trajectory of it.
I learnt how to think and question, and how to hear my voice and grow the confidence to truly use it. And it was where I discovered my life’s passion and purpose, one that only seems to grow stronger as the years go by.
From my own comprehensive school background and academic starting point, Cambridge really seemed the most improbable route to take. And returning is always a reminder that so much in life is possible even when it feels so out of reach.
Personally too, it was the place I grew up in. It was where I first fell in love, where I healed from a difficult time in my life, and perhaps most importantly, where I met the truest, forever friends. Seeing our children play together on the lawns yesterday, and then my own son, for the first time, pondering his own hopes to attend university in the future, really felt like coming full circle.
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