The Eleventh Annual Trinity Tower Reunion

The 11th Annual Trinity Tower Reunion took place on the 9th November 2013 at the Cordwainer in the Ridings, Northampton.  This was our biggest reunion to date, with 109 people attending – a record turnout.  The list of the those people who came to the reunion can be seen from the button on the right. The 1966 and 1973 groups each had 12 people attending, but the big group was 1963, with 33 people at the event.  We still have some year groups with nobody coming along, but we just need to get someone along, and then others will follow.  A breakdown of the people at the reunion is shown on the right.

Once again, Norman French came.  He started at the Tech when the school first opened in 1946.  Norman stayed for an hour or so, as this year there were fewer people from the earlier years, after several years when we have had quite a number from that era.  He told me that he soon would be 80, but he looks very good for it.

The atmosphere at this year’s reunion was great; helped by the fact that the place was very busy.  With that number of people the place was nicely filled and the buzz of conversation loud.

Once again, David Baker, the ever popular member of staff came along, and arrived as always, just before the start, and stayed up until the end, and moved from group to group talking to almost everyone.  He enjoys it very much, which is excellent.

Around 2:30pm, Peter Austen called everyone to order, and amazingly a hush settled over the room, while he said a few words.  He thanked everyone for coming, and talked about the special event for the 1963 and 1973 groups.  He talked about the 1963 group as having been the “bulge” year.  They were the children born in 1946/47 after the troops returned from World War II and for some reason a large increase in the birth rate occurred.  That year there were 6 forms, instead of the usual 4 in every other year.

Peter was followed by yours truly, who said thanks to Peter for organising the event on the day, managing the venue and organising publicity in the local media.  Once again, we had had some very good spots on the Breakfast show on Radio Northampton.  He talked about the fact that his own group, 1963, had finished the fifth form 50 years ago this year.  That is a long time! 

It was great to see such a turnout for this special year.  The 1973 group had also reached the forty year milestone.  He went on to say that both the 1963 and 1973 groups had made special efforts to get more people involved.  The 1973 group made a special Facebook page.  The 1963 group got one or two people from each form to trace other people from that form, that we had not seen before at a reunion, or those that had been along perhaps once in the past.  As they contacted some people, other connections followed.  It worked well.  Other year groups could do the same to increase their numbers and the enjoyment of the day meeting a bigger number of their old friends.

At the reunion today for the 1963 group, we had 20 men from the 1963 group and 13 women, so in terms of success, the ladies are doing better, as they got 23% of their total year group along to the reunion, while the boys only managed 17%.  Still more work to do, especially as we have two boys forms under-represented. 

How did your year-group get on at the reunion?  Who were the new faces in your group; what was the best part of this year’s event? Write a few words about your day, and I will add it here.  Please also send in your photos.  There is room for plenty more in the gallery.

Thank you for the donations in the wooden money box made in the woodwork class in the last 50's and given to me by Dennis Rooke some years ago.  This year's amount raised was £177.70.  A fantastic amount.  As it was such a large amount it caused me to feel a little "guilty", so I sat down and worked out really what it costs me to run the website and prepare all of the material each year. I had always thought it was between £100 and £150.  When I put in all of the costs, it came to just a little more than the £178 raised, so that's great.  If you then add in the fact that to run the website software, I need to buy a much more powerful computer and usually replace it every three years, then it comes to a lot more, so thank you all again, and I don't feel guilty now. I have been happy to run the website for the last 10 years, and will continue to do so. Below is a group photo for the 1963's and beneath that the main Reunion Photo Gallery.  There is room for plenty more photos, if you would like to send them to me.  Alternatively, for those who are members of the Trinity Facebook group, then you can upload your photos there, and I will then add them on here.

Thank you to the people who brought along new material.  As I mentioned at the time, it will be a little while before I can process it, as I need to finish off the school scrapbook material first, as the school would like it back, and my wife wants it gone from the house!! 

While writing this report for some reason I have been more conscious than normal of what Mr EG Bennett, my old English Master, would have said about my writing above.  I suspect that despite several edits before I published it, he would probably still turn in his grave. Well, I was a Science student, and English was never my strong point!

Thanks again to everyone for coming along, and hope to see you again next year.

Ian Dow

The 1963 Group, with David Baker at the back left.  If you would like a copy for yourself, then click on the photo of a full-sized version.  If you want to see a version with all of the people named, then click [here] Thanks to John Ingham and Bob & Val Bierton for producing the names