The date had been long set, 22nd and 23rd June 2018, the venue had been discussed at length, and so it was an intrepid band of about seventy travellers met in the Royal and Fortescue on the Friday evening, having travelled from as far as New Zealand, UAE, United States and even Barnstaple.

The beauty of this first evening is that you don't know who exactly is going to turn up, and the delight on people’s faces recognising old friends who you haven't seen for 30 plus years, is a thing to see, freely mixing groups recounting tales of times past, deeds done and memories forgotten renewed, "What happened to..?" or "Do you remember when..?" seemed to be good conversation leads.

Saturday afternoon saw us descend on WBS, the provision of a refreshment tent by the "Planty" proved an instant success. However, it didn't prevent us going off exploring old haunts and seeing what had changed. John Whitfield’s tour of the site was well attended, as always, and his anecdotes, along with our points of order, made this a great tour. 

Eventually we had dinner in the Karslake Hall, acquaintances of old teachers remade, discussions on “our time” compared to “today” featured heavily, after a meal drawing on 80’s influences, we again mingled freely, and it was interesting to get an insight from the staff side compared to our view of the 80’s.

At this point it’s required to pass a massive vote of thanks to Karin Lang and Monica Carter-Burns, for organising and pulling together the whole weekend, without your efforts this wouldn’t have happened and we would have been poorer for it. Ladies, Thank you, from us all. 

Sunday morning saw us dispersing our separate ways, with talk already of another reunion, but when and where? and that’s where the idea was born…Hong Kong, Rugby Sevens, Late March early April 2020.. 

Make a date in your diary, it’s going to be epic.

Neil Wilson (76-84B)