Dee Caffari and I'm a professional sailor and have a few world records now for sailing around the world, predominantly in both directions, on my own, with a team and leading a team.
Well, it's always really special to come back to Leeds. It holds really special memories, a lot of fond memories, but to be with such an illustrious list of names to be inducted into the Hall of Fame makes you appreciate just how special it is. But to be in a minority sport and have that recognised as well makes it really special, which is why I wanted to make the effort and be here tonight.
Well, it was really lovely to hear everyone's memories of their time here and it's all fond memories and they're very similar. Everybody talks about the support, the network, the community and the enjoyment from being here and for me it's exactly the same. So I think we all echo what people have said today that we've heard tonight.
I think it's all about, if you think about what you learn. I mean, it's a few years ago now and things have changed, but actually the discipline, the preparation, the planning, you know, the core lessons that were instilled in us by all the lecturers, no matter what your subject or what area they were teaching, the fundamentals were all still the same. And then it was up to you how much you learn.
I think when you're young and the whole world is open to you, it's really hard to see where you want to go and what you want to do. And we're all inspired by people we see and we recognise. And to see the alumni for Leeds be celebrated and they can then see what's possible, suddenly it opens up whole new worlds to them and that's exciting. We want to inspire the next generation to go and do incredible things because they're all capable of it and hopefully that's what we started today. There may be some more sailors out there, and if I've done a little bit to inspire somebody to at least try it and enjoy it, then my work here is done.
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