First thing tomorrow morning Mr Nina and I will be heading off to the North East and back to the university where we met far too many years ago to count, for a very special anniversary.

Sunderland School of Pharmacy was founded by  a remarkable woman, Hope Constance Monica Winch, who was appointed on September 1 1921 as the first full-time lecturer in Pharmacy at Sunderland Technical College.

By 1930 she was head of the new separate Pharmacy Department at Sunderland and her spirit and determination provided the foundations to our successful School of Pharmacy we now recognise.

Tragically Miss Winch was killed in a climbing accident in 1944 but her legacy is a thriving university department.

And on Saturday evening we have the honour of attending the annual Hope C Wiinch dinner on the 90th anniversary of her work in Sunderland.

And I am giving a break chat between dinner and dessert about how a pharmacist traded in a full time well paying job to tell lies for fun and profit. Hah. No escape if they want dessert! Should be great fun!