Athol passes with a distinction for his thesis at Oxford University!

Yesterday, Athol got his results, he passed his MPhil and got a distinction for thesis on corporate social justice. Such an amazing achievement! I am so proud!

Oxford was a dream of Athol's. In 1998, on a trip to visit Oxford, his brother Nick bought him an Oxford jacket. Athol swore that he would only wear it when he only is officially a student. Now he can wear his jacket with pride.

Athol grew up in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, South Africa during apartheid. Today, he has degrees from Wits, MIT, LBS, Harvard University, LSE and now Oxford University!

At the age of 47 years old, despite being older than all his classmates, supervisors and most of his professors, Athol still passed the two year MPhil degree.

We are proud of you Athol!

Trip to Shropshire 2-7 July 2017

We decided to visit Shropshire, which is almost 3 hours train (via Wolverhampton/Birmingham New Street) from Oxford.

We spent 5 night in Shrewsbury - the home of Charles Darwin... father of the the theory of evolution.

Shewsbury is a beautiful town almost completely surrounded by the River Severn. It's very hilly with it's black and white buildings... so pretty!

We went on a 45 minute boat cruise called Sabrina along the River Severn.

Near to the station is Shrewsbury Castle and Regimental Museum. The grounds are free to roam, and it's wonderful to have a picnic on a bench. There's also Laura's Tower up the stairs on the right. A bit of stairs but so worth it. At the top you get beautiful views of Shrewsbury and an old tower.

Across the road is Shrewsbury Library with a statue of Charles Darwin in front.

The town is small so you can easily walk to town. We stayed at 20 Belmont Street in a Grade II listed building. There was lots of restaurants and shops nearby.

The Quarry Park is a large open garden with The Dingle which is a lovely manicured garden.

On the Tuesday we attended a Strictly Strings concert show at the Severn Theatre, where a group of about 100 youngsters aged 8-17 years from the Shropshire Music Group played 10 pieces of music for us. These youngsters were very talented.

On the Thursday we caught the 436 bus from Shrewsbury to Much Wenlock, a little village 30 min south of Shrewsbury. This the where the Olympic Games we created. There's just one street with lovely quaint shops, pubs and book shops. A little walk on is the Much Wenlock Priory. These abbey ruins are magnificent!