07/09/2026
๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ.
Last week I was asked to be key-note speaker at St Ceciliaโs College prize giving.
Soโฆ. on Thursday I went back, this time not as a pupil, but to speak to the girls sitting where I once sat.
I knew I was looking forward to it but to be honest, it felt daunting because I didnโt know what I should talk about. I had prepared and was nervous (to say the least).
What I didnโt realise was how emotional it would make me.
Walking back through those doors brought so much with it. Memories of friendships, laughter, probably far too much talking ๐, but also memories of the girl I was thenโฆbright, opinionated, ambitious and with absolutely no idea how her life was going to unfold.
I left St Ceciliaโs with only my GCSEs. I became a mum at 17. I took the long route to medicine, was rejected from medical school more than once, kept going, and eventually became the doctor I had always wanted to be.
Today I walked back in as a consultant gynaecologist, a business owner, an employer, a wife and a mum of four girls. And saying some of that out loud, in the place where so much of my story began, caught me more than I expected.
I wanted the girls to know that their life does not have to follow a perfect, straight line. You can get things wrong. You can be underestimated. You can fail. You can change direction. You can take longer than everyone else.
But none of those things gets to decide where you eventually end up. Sometimes you just have to find another route.
Thank you St Ceciliaโs for asking me back. It meant far more to me than I realised it would. ๐ค
Proud to be a girl in green ๐