In my end is my beginning

There you go then. Today, after 40-odd years, the Open University in the South East stopped offering services to students; in effect it ceased to be. The name will continue as an add-on in The OU in London and the South East but the folk who've been looking after students in Kent, Sussex and Surrey won't be in East Grinstead. Some friends have been redeployed to other offices but far more will leave the university. Some of us will be in next week to clear our desks and get the site ready for the Estates Department to come and take out the furniture and IT but we'll not be dealing with the lifeblood of the OU; students. I'll be in on Tuesday because on Monday I have one last prison gig - a degree ceremony - and then I'll be done and dusted. My situation is slightly different to that of others though; I will still be an OU tutor so retain the connection I've had since I started in that role in 1999 which, in turn, connects back to my first OU course in 1992.

So today there were pizzas and flowers and chocolate and laughs and a lot of tears. The big screens in the office, the ones which used to show the number of calls accepted or dropped, were showing Father Ted. We were stepping over packing crates as those who are moving on labelled their kit for transfer to their new home - they moved out today. We had the final R13 raffle and the proceeds from that and other Staff Club events meant that we could donate £160 to a local charity and we chatted about the past and people long gone.

It was a poignant day but some things must end before other things can start. The title of this blip is the motto of the Association of Open University Graduates and I think it's rather fitting.