Well, this is it.  I set out in January to produce a blog on six consecutive days each month throughout the year. And, a little to my surprise, I've pretty well managed to achieve that.  There have been a few days when I have been on leave - but my major holidays during the year (and I do take holidays - they are very necessary) happen not to have coincided with blogging weeks. I have generally managed to get to the keyboard late each evening, although there have been occasions when the entry has been written up the following morning.

The original reason for starting this was because I was involved in the mentoring scheme whereby members of UEB (and the academics on UEB are all male - although, as they say, watch this space for an announcement very shortly) have been attempting to help senior academic women to experience aspects of the wider governance structures of the university and of the life of PVCs.  At the time I started I had three such mentees: that number has now grown to four and although the obligations of the scheme itself have now been completed for this session I intend to keep being available for 'my four' into the future.

I have tried each day to pick on something that is of more general interest.  I hope that in doing that I have been able to demonstrate the incredible variety of a PVC's life - particularly one in a cross-cutting role such as I have.  Yes: the hours can often be long.  Yes: the demands can be considerable.  But the rewards are often immense - a feeling that one is actually making a difference to the life of the university and, more importantly, to the lives of those who are engaged with it, students, staff and others from outside our community.  The highlights outweigh the tedious elements many times over.

In this final blog of the year I want to pay tribute to two sets of people who make this university so special.  These are not the obvious 'stars', Instead they are the middle ranking colleagues - in academic departments and in professional services - who believe in the mission of the university, who see their own career developing in parallel with the stability and quality of the university, and who are the 'boiler-room' of the enterprise.  These are the academic staff who will turn their hand to anything that is in the interests of their students, who will chase the research grants that might extend the research support contracts of colleagues, who will turn out for outreach and for alumni events, and who take pride in what they, their students and their departments are achieveing.  They are the staff in acacdemic departments and in professional services who are determined that everything should run smoothly, who stay after hours to get the exam marks in or the timetables finalised, who are available on the phone to deal with emergencies and incidents of all kinds, and whose attitude to any request is to try to find a way of fulfilling it.

But my second tribute is to the officers of the Union of Students.  Every year a series of wacky candidates stand for election, and on almost every occasion the winners are actually an incredibly mature and responsible bunch.  They are extremely well trained by the permanent union officials, and they become some of the best advocates of the university.  The Union has been run by two outstanding teams of officers during the period I have been writing this blog. And those teams have worked with me and other UEB colleageus in an incredibly co-operative manner.

But is this actually to be the end?  I started the year with the intention that I would finish in December. But some people have asked me to continue. I am going to put that to the vote.  Your chance to put your opinions can be found in a Survey Monkey questionnaire.  Please answer it to give me your verdict one way or another.

  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2D8WLSV

Happy Christmas to everyone.