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Four years ago, we celebrated as the coffee machine arrived in Cedar House, and that week, having already sent home all Year One to Year Four students, it was so very hard to close the building for the pandemic. Some of you would have been at school then, some will have been in Year Two or will just have joined us in Year One. What a journey we have all been on since then, experiencing new ways of teaching and learning differently. Perhaps like me, many of you will have found that some of the biggest lessons were about yourself, and how you respond to change and uncertainty.
I feel privileged to have worked with the many school staff and clinical colleagues over that time, whose adaptability, fortitude and determination to continue to train the doctors this country needs shone through, despite all that was going on around us. Likewise, I am immensely proud of the ongoing commitment to train that was shown by so many students, and the bravery shown by Year Five, who assisted with patient care.
All of this has really made me value all the routine things we took for granted before: being able to allow students to travel again on elective, or to be with patients on placement, hosting in-person prize ceremonies, enjoying Artefacts shows, and sporting events, and seeing the building buzzing with people, and piano music, as we did when the Vice Chancellor visited this month. Being together now means a lot more.
Perhaps like me, you have also appreciated the opportunity to connect, and the importance of caring for each other more, whether individually through peer-peer support, or with charitable efforts, such as Alice’s marathons.
This particular anniversary also overlaps with the reflective, renewal and community focus of Ramadan and Lent. It feels a good time to think about what we have learned from our experiences, what we are grateful for, and what we will commit to going forwards. Most of all, how we will appreciate and support each other.