Five students from the Anglia Law School at Anglia Ruskin University achieved first-class LLB (Hons) law degrees at a recent graduation ceremony in Chelmsford, Essex.

Simon Gardner, Cheryl Hayward, Kylie Taylor, Kamala Singh and Eden Legesse, who are all from Essex, are from a group of mature and undergraduate students who all took the Qualifying Law Degree, which allows graduates to progress directly to the vocational stage of training for the profession of solicitor or barrister.

Kamala Singh, who spoke at the graduation ceremony, thanked the group's lecturers for their hard work and support.

An exceptional student from Anglia Ruskin University's Faculty of Health and Social care has won a special award for her outstanding achievements in cancer care studies.

Samantha Hobson, from Sudbury, was awarded the Kim Trye Memorial Prize this year for achieving a first class honours degree in BSc Palliative Care. She achieved an exceptional mark of 95% for her final dissertation.

Sam produced a stunning synthesis of ideas of the 'self', exploring the notion of 'person' in relation to end of life care. She considered how the concepts of connection, attachment, spirituality and meaning interconnect with the sense of self and therefore have huge implications on the ways in which patients are cared for in order to facilitate the healing process.

It concluded that being a person is not just a question of academic philosophy; it is about the reality of who patients really are, and how they are cared for, by having sensitivity and respect for their dignity and values.

The award for best academic performance of a student nurse working with patients with cancer is given annually in memory of Chelmsford nurse Kim Trye.

At the same time as Samantha's prize was announced, Janet Holden, a student from the Faculty of Health and Social Care undertaking the graduate certificate in Cancer Care, was awarded the Jill Rutter Memorial Prize this year for having the highest mark for a paper on Cancer Treatment and Care. Janet is from Colchester.

And finally, a nursing student, who also graduated during November, has given a graphic insight into her recent trip to two learning disabled hospitals in Croatia.

Tina Bannister recorded her personal and professional thoughts on the state of health-care in the two hospitals, providing adult and child care, which are both supported by Anglia Ruskin University's Chelmsford campus Chaplaincy initiative, through its Mission Croatia campaign.

The campaign, which has been running for ten years, was initiated following the Balkan conflict of 1991 when the special needs of fifty children in Kraljevica were highlighted. A working party of just over thirty students has been every year since to decorate, refurbish and provide nursing support within the two institutions, one at Kraljevica on the coast and the other more inland at Stancic.

The reason for the trips, as described by Tina, is to make the hospital environments bright, clean and cheerful as there is research evidence available to confirm that this helps to improve relationships and the feeling of wellbeing.

But at Stancic, Tina witnessed some distressing scenes when she was asked one morning to help out with feeding at breakfast.

After feeding, Tina helped take some of the clients out in their pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Tina has also recorded her experiences of another placement she recently completed - in Australia.