CH 8 : POST-REUNION IMPRESSIONS

The following comments have come in since the reunion:

Richard ('Pop') Peter: "That was a reunion to beat them all. It was such a privilege and pleasure to interact with those venerable persons over the three days. I will feel the warm glow of camaraderie for months and years ahead. Thank you for the organization and the opportunity. I hope the blogsite continues to operate. I am determined to keep in touch hereafter."

In another email, Pop comments further: "Got the disc and have been poring over the images wishing I could have the few days in EL over and over again. For me, I had my two brothers in town - together for the first time in years. It was a great experience being with them. We all feel that a lasting impression has been indelibly stamped on us."

Nebby Cheiman: Neb unfortunately wasn’t able to join us from Australia as we had all hoped he would be able to do but he enjoyed seeing the photos and reading the stories of the weekend on the blogsite which he said "Brings back so many memories."

It was the same for Peter Carlson who commented: "Really great photos and descriptions of the event! I feel like I was there."

Johnno Johnson: "We really had a great weekend and I feel very privileged to be part of the Class of '70. I went to the Ceremony for the first time since leaving school and I will definitely be back. My mother who is 78 and remembers a lot of the rugby players from that time, pointed out that we may have left school 40 years ago but some of us know each other from 1958 when we started school. That's 52 years ago. Makes me feel very old. Once again, thanks to all the organisers and whoever else contributed. Thanks, Johnno."

Guy Foulds: "I would have loved to be there with you all. Sounds like a good jol was had by all."

The last word goes to George Reid who made it all the way from Australia: "I’m so glad that I made the effort to be part of the reunion. Living so far away it’s easy to come up with any number of excuses not to make the journey; the expense, the time, the jet-lag, the relevance, the bathroom needs renovating, etc, etc.

I must thank Jock for persevering with me, as well as Peter Carlson for instigating the blog. If it wasn’t for some of the posting, especially from Stephen Mullineux and Pop Peters, I would not have been drawn in. I must also thank my brother Mike (Tubby) who rightly said it would be exceptional and my wife Alison who said just do it.

What a pleasure it was to meet everyone again, such a great bunch of blokes, so many memories. I was concerned that after living in Sydney for 20 years I would have lost touch but it only took about 15 min on Friday night at the club to slot right back in. I didn’t recognise everyone first off and there were a number who didn’t recognise me but after a while it felt like I had never been away.

There is a certain “spirit” at Selborne which is hard to find anywhere else. It’s only when you have children yourself and you start looking at schools a little more carefully, that you realise how difficult it is finding a school which will give them what we had. A school with committed teachers who were prepared to teach until 3.00pm, then coach sport to 5.00pm and then mark homework until late, a school with a heritage of remembrance, a school which can draw back increasing numbers of old boys every Founders Day. We didn’t realise it at the time but we were exceptionally fortunate.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 reunion will make every effort to return for the next Class of 1970 reunion."

To which we all say, "Hear! Hear!".