What to bring to your graduation ceremony

Your UB number comes first. You need it to register for your ceremony, and you'll find it on your graduation invitation email and on your student card. Registration happens in person only, at the desk in the Social Learning Space of the Richmond Building, which opens at 8am. That's where you're given your seat number and the tickets for your guests.

Look after those tickets from the moment they're in your hand. The university is clear that a lost ticket can't be replaced. Put them somewhere safe, then pass them on as soon as you can.

Official gowns from Marston Events are collected from the Small Hall once you've registered. Hiring from us? Yours will already be on when you arrive, so you go straight from registration to photographs or your seat.

Your phone does a lot on the day: the digital graduation booklet, messages to your guests, the photos, the link for anyone watching at home. Charge it overnight and add a small power bank.

"Please ensure you do not lose your tickets as duplicates cannot be issued."

— The University of Bradford

Pack a few hair grips. A mortarboard sits flat on your head and slides when you look down at the stage steps, hug someone or turn for a photo. Push two or three in along the edge of the cap and it'll stay put until the very last picture.

Then think about your feet. The stage is reached by a flight of steps, and campus sits about 300 metres up Great Horton Road from the city centre. If you're wearing heels for the ceremony, walk up in flats, then hand those to a guest once you've changed.

Check the weather the evening before. A December ceremony usually means somewhere between 2 and 7°C, and December is the wettest month of the year at the Met Office's Bradford station. July is gentler at 12 to 20°C. Either way you'll want a coat for getting to campus and for any photos outdoors.

Have something to eat before you take your seat. You're asked to be seated 30 minutes before the start of a ceremony that lasts about an hour and a half, so it's a long stretch. The Richmond Building atrium has a Costa Coffee and a Morrisons Daily if you need something on the way in.

The official photographers are in the Sports Hall at Unique Fitness all day, and the university suggests going after the ceremony so you're not rushing to your seat. There's also a free video clip of your walk across the stage: register on the Bradford Connect alumni portal and the invitation to download it follows by email.

Start from your ceremony time and count back. The university asks you to arrive on campus two hours early, the registration desk opens at 8am, and you and your guests need to be seated in the Great Hall 30 minutes before the start. Arrive late and entry isn't guaranteed.

Parking on campus is limited and allocated first come, first served, in the Shearbridge (BD7 1PP) and Longside (BD7 1SA) car parks. Blue Badge holders can use the bays in the visitors' car park near the Richmond Building entrance, through the barrier on Tumbling Hill Street. Public transport is easier: Bradford Interchange is a 15-minute walk away, or about five minutes on the 576 bus, and Forster Square station is around 25 minutes on foot.

Each graduate can book two free guest tickets for the hall. Children over two need a seat of their own and count towards that number, and anyone under 16 must be with an adult other than you, because graduates sit apart from their guests. If any of your guests has access needs, the reply to your invitation is the place to say so. They're then given tickets for the graduates' entrance, through the side doors facing the Atrium, and the lift goes up to D floor.

Two quieter spaces are worth knowing about. A calm room is set aside in Room C50 of the Richmond Building during the ceremony, and the Prayer Room in the Carlton Building is open to you on the day.