Official School Reunion

I make no apology for filling this post with lots of photographs but it really was a very special day... not least because it was the day that Prince Harry married Megan Markle!!

Today was our official school reunion and for the class of 1978 40 years since some of us were last together.  In my day I took the 11plus examination and this was the school I was sent to - Sunny Hill, Bruton School for Girls which also had a prep school - we were trying to work out how many day girls and boarders it might have accommodated then and we were thinking maybe upwards of 700 but now there are less than 200 pupils in total which means that it has become a very exclusive private school - if you board the fees are £40,000 per year!!!!!  The class sizes for some of the subjects must be tiny!

I drive on the most beautiful of mornings through some of the most stunning countryside you could wish to see.  Had it been raining my impression would have been completely different but it could not have been better.  The school was looking at its best.  Some of the original buildings are still there but there have been a lot of new additions.  I parked in the carpark where the school buses used to come and pick us up to take us back home - I am guessing that this is a rare occurrence now because the buses were provided by the various councils to pick up the school children.

I know that I will recognise some of our group because social media has enabled us to keep in touch and post photographs and we have had two mini reunions since we left but only with about a dozen people attending.  Today we were anticipating over 30 and as it happened there were nearer 40 girls who either left after 'O' levels in 1976 or 'A' levels in 1978.

This is a selection of the early arrivers - a selection of boarders and day-bugs (apparently that is how the boarders referred to those of us lucky enough to go home each day).  Liza in the middle front wearing the dark scarf had come all the way from Hawaii!!  I was asked how come I seemed to have more boarder friends than day-girl ones.  I think it was because I was the only person to pass the 11plus the year I took it in 1971 so did not go to the school with anyone I knew and no-one had passed before me until you went back to my sister who was in the 6th form when I arrived so there was absolutely no-one that I knew so I just made friends with whoever, whereas the other day girls generally already knew someone else in our year or in other years.

We took the opportunity to walk around the grounds.  We all admitted that we had not appreciated just what a beautiful location it was but for the day-bugs we were just happy to attend and then go home and for the boarders they probably didn't have the freedom to take it all in.  The regime back in those days was very strict and with many of the house mistresses single women with no experience of young girls/women sadly lacking in empathy and love.

The school recognises that schooldays were not always a positive experience for some of the girls and happily the establishment seems to have really moved with the times.  We had lots of occasions when we said "that would never have been there/happened in our day!" and thank god!!

Our group of returnees took up the majority of the dining hall and the noise level was amazing.  There was so much to talk about and people were just so pleased to be there.  We all had an interest in what each other had done since leaving but not with any sense of competition.  It was generally agreed that our shared experiences in that school had enabled us to forge strong and lasting bonds which meant that we could just be thrown together and enjoy ourselves.  It was a fabulous day and one which we could never recreate because the chances of catching up after another 40 years absence was impossible to imagine.



We took another opportunity after lunch to wander around the school buildings and tried to remember what lessons we took where, recalling anecdotes from the past - not least when one disgruntled sixth former in the year above us was expelled and left having grafitti'd a very rude word on the back wall of the assembly room which the staff dutifully covered with a Union Jack - I wondered if that was some sort of urban myth but my recollection was reinforced by someone else in the room.

The food for lunch was way beyond our expectations and there was afternoon tea on offer before people went their separate ways to either do more exploring at the school or down in Bruton or to freshen up before another get-together at The Smithy.

We were hopeful that one or two of the girls who had been reticent to return last night might have enjoyed themselves enough to come back again tonight.  

I drove back to Keinton having had such a fabulous day - I had seen just about everyone I had hoped I would see - sadly Trudie Masterton couldn't make it because her mother was unwell.  I had renewed acquaintances and made some really firm friendships so I hope that both Peggy and Lil in the photos above will come and visit at some point.  There had been a couple of people I wouldn't have recognised immediately and a couple of people who sadly I don't remember at all!!

I had a chance to catch up with my Uncle Ivor (mum's brother) and Aunty Margaret before going out - they have moved to Keinton since I was last over and have a beautiful bungalow.  My uncle has nursed my aunt since her stroke about 10 years ago.  They have their daughter (my cousin) Julie just up the road and the move seems to really suit my uncle who is still spritely even though he will be 90 next year - my aunt is a confirmed Street girl so she is less enthusiastic about the change.

The evening do at The Smithy was brilliant with even more girls pitching up and Harriet and Bin coming back even though they had not initially intended to.  The poor pub had to shoe-horn us into the back room and try and get all our food out to us without error!  All was going well until Kenna gesticulated madly and swiped my lime and soda into my and Peggie's laps and my handbag - all very nice and sticky!!!

It was another brilliant evening and once again we were lucky with the weather - it enabled us to sit outside and enjoy the beer garden until it got too cold and we moved indoors for our food.  BIG BIG thanks to the girls who organised it and to the pub staff for being so patient.