Sun. 10th Nov. 3am Cannot sleep, I get up to jot down names linked to faces, teachers linked to classes, incidents linked to pupils.
This continues Mon. 4am Good Grief! Now it's back to Military Road Juniors. I have Maureen Tarlton and Sheila Markie to thank for that! It is a very emotional period of time, after the reunion, to realise what has passed, so very many years ago.
We now also realise that the "Class of '63" was quite special. It represented, in so many ways, a change in time - the early "Sixties" - The world as we were experiencing it, was moving on. Now, only now, do we look back and realise we were all part of that movement, a transition of generation, a fresh outlook, away from the darkness of our parent's post war "get by" attitude. We had freedom, we had opinions that were not determined by the trauma of world war. To be seventeen in "63, the first generation maturing without having to refer to the past. Freedom, that is what we had, and we took it for granted. We could choose, challenge, buy, experiment (no, not that kind!) travel, make love, make a noise, shock, chase a dream, or simply do nothing, (most appealing). It was up to us and no-one else. Where are we all now? Lives lived, young enough to remember, old enough to regret. Young enough to yearn and old enough to think of what might have been - but also wise enough now to accept that life can be wonderful, life can be a bitch! It was all up to us, no-one else. For a brief period, a few hours, once a year, we come together. Perhaps it is enough. Any longer, and perhaps someone might have suggested showing "Gunner" Wright some forgiveness,.......then again, maybe not.
A heartfelt thanks to you, Ian, and all those present last Saturday, for creating such a warm and welcoming atmosphere. This warm glow inside, will linger for quite a few days longer, or was that more about meeting Judith Merriman again!..............mmmmm!
Best Wishes, Paul Bacon (who is highly embarrassed after "Twiggy" Ingham's discovery of that photo)
How empowered I felt, and I am sure Sheila Markie would feel the same, about being responsible for keeping a man, other than our husbands awake at night at our age! Thanks Paul for making an ‘old lady’ feel special.
No Seriously!, it was wonderful to see so many of ‘our year’ at the Reunion last Saturday - there almost seems to be a bit of rivalry between the years as to how many of ‘the year’ will turn up. Somehow, some of us seem closer now than when we were at school. Maybe that was something to with our classes being ‘streamed’ or being split up for art/music: history/geography; Sciences etc. Nevertheless, we always have plenty to talk about and although Northampton has changed so much and in my opinion not so much for the better, the Reunion and all that it means with the bonds we have established and the friendships we have rekindled bring us back year after year.
This year when looking at who was coming I was quite interested at the thought of seeing Paul, Tina and Alan again - would we all know each other? Well from where I was sitting Paul’s eyes have always been a giveaway, Tina is still the dark haired beauty she always was and Alan brought back memories of Military Road Infants and Junior school for Paul, Sheila and I. It says something about how we felt about our schooldays when we were recalling not only the names of the children in our top Junior class, but actually where they sat in class and who with! Also the names of all the teachers we had. I loved my time at school whether it was Military Road or Trinity and the Reunion has enabled me to relive those times.
So a big Thank You Ian and Peter for doing all the hard work to give us an excuse to all meet up year after year. See you all next year - and that includes you Paul, Tina and Alan.
Oh, and Judy M I will be watching you and Paul next year!
There have been regular attendees from the class of 1973 over the past 11 years but we decided to set up a Facebook page in an attempt to attract new faces to the reunion. Unfortunately a few people sent their apologies due to holidays/work commitments this year but 12 people did attend. Of these, 5 of us have attended most years, 5 have attended occasionally and 2 people had never been before.
We are always a happy, loud group, very sociable (mixing with other years) and the wine/beer helps! It never ceases to amaze me how much we remember of our school days which, for me, were such happy days. We are always pleased to see Mr Baker and share our stories about Gilbert and Sullivan productions, as well as catching up and trying to work out why no-one ever remembered Jim Clarke when he was at the school!!
What an afternoon! I really found it an amazing event and was amazed how easy it was to talk with people. Sounds silly but I wasn't sure we would have enough to talk about after so many years but that was no problem! Some people there, Derek Austen, George Sullivan, Terry Rodhouse, I have known since Junior school!
Congratulations to all concerned again on creating a great event.