An alternative venue has been confirmed for the University of Central Lancashire graduation ceremonies.
AdvertisementPreston Guild Hall has hosted the university’s graduates, parents and staff for decades.
But with Simon Rigby’s decision to mothball the venue the university has announced it will be using a venue on its own Preston campus.
Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, off Marsh Lane, is due to be transformed to be able to host the ceremonies.
The university says with the future of the Guild Hall still uncertain, they have made alternative plans for the ceremonies in July.
Joint institutional lead for the university Liz Bromley told Blog Preston: “Our key priority is to ensure that graduation ceremonies can still go ahead and that our students have a fantastic graduation day to celebrate their achievements at UCLan.
“The ceremonies are less than 4 weeks away and as external circumstances have been beyond our control, UCLan is now planning to relocate the graduation ceremonies from the Guild Hall to take place at our Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre in order to provide a venue that can accommodate at least 4000 graduates, family members and friends each day.
“We fully understand the importance of these special events to our students and their families and that people travel and make significant arrangements to be present for this happy and memorable day.
“In true UCLan style, teams have come together across the University and responded brilliantly in developing our plans to transform the Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre into a venue which will give our graduating students and their families a day to remember.
“All ceremonies will take place on the same dates as originally planned and in addition to the Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, the University will also use surrounding campus buildings including Foster and the new Engineering Innovation Centre for registration, gowning, photography and hospitality.”
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Students are due to receive an email with individual ceremony times and the graduation website is being updates as arrangements for each day of the graduations is confirmed.
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