No, I’m not referring to the Eric Clapton song,“Hello Old Friend”, last Saturday I attended the 25 year reunion of my primary school class –so the song is apt all the same..
Let me set the scene a little. In the lead up to the reunion I had a few people give me odd looks when I told them that my Grade 6 class was getting together again. The size of our school was such that there was only one class for each grade. As such the group (plus or minus those who came and went) essentially spent seven years together in the same class. It had never occurred to me that people might have gone to schools where there were multiple classes at each level –so of course most people would not have gone through school with the same people in class each year. Personally I’m pretty happy the way it worked out for us,I think it cemented a lot of the friendships and general good will within the group.
So how did this gathering come about? Well,it all started with one guy from the class,sending a Facebook message to a few of us that he was connected to,saying how cool it would be for the old class to get together. (I don’t think the fact that it had been 25 years since we were in Grade 6 came into it,I’d say that was more coincidence.) The response to his message was quite positive.. So from there a Facebook group was created,and one by one,people started getting added to the group.. Some people were easy to track down using Facebook.. and were added to the group accordingly…Some were not.. and a bit of detective work was required…Just about all of the 25 (or so) people in the Grade 6 class were tracked down.. ..and even a couple who had left after Grade 5. Now I know that for a lot of people the prospect of a school reunion is a horrible thought.. Lots of people I know hated primary school,high school or both and would shudder at the thought of seeing their classmates again. Judging by the turn out to this reunion,this was not the case for most. Anyway,with pretty much everyone contacted,a date was set and venue chosen…We had something like two months notice,giving people plenty of time to get their act together.
The reunion was held a pub in Collingwood.. we had our own room which was gave us a bit of privacy. I entered the room to find about 16 of my old classmates already there…What a moment.. I was immediately transported back to 1986.. to me the faces were the same.. After the initial shock wore off I was asked to see if I recognised the people in the room…I went round the table and picked them off one by one.. struggled a bit with the last one (Sorry Rachael,I maintain that it was the hair that threw me 
Others seemed to struggle a with a few faces…and then the moment the face/name clicked …. pure gold.. As I looked around the room,memories came flooding back…Many of these people had been family friends.. It’s amazing how little details from 25 years ago can be so clear –siblings,pets,quirky habits,particular clothes people wore. As an aside,it was interesting to see how some of my former classmates now bore a strong resemblance to how their parents looked back in 1986.
This was not an officially sanctioned school as might be the case with your average 10,20 ..etc year high school reunion. As such there was none of the “please donate to the school”drive or “who has become the most successful”type discussions. This definitely gave a relaxed and friendly tone to the evening. People were genuinely happy to see each other. It was very cool to see who had gotten married (and divorced),who had kids,who had travelled …and generally what paths people had taken.
The room erupted when our two grade 6 teachers walked into the room –their attendance had been kept as a surprise…It was very cool to see them after such a long time,to speak to them as adults and even ask the odd question you’d never dream of asking as a 12 year old. It was interesting to see the little bits and pieces they were able to remember about us…given that they’ve had so many classes / students since then - we were all impressed. Both teachers have since commented that they don’t often get the chance to see how their primary school students turn out.. We’d like to think we’ve done okay.
After a bit of 1986 trivia,we were all asked to share a memory from primary school. It was funny to see what different people remembered.. who played what roles in the school play.. tales of schoolyard “romance”(my first crush was in that class…I took the opportunity to mention this to her,we had a laugh…),wagging school,breakdancing in the playground,lunch orders.. lots of random tidbits that made everyone smile…
Lots of photos were taken,many of which made their way onto Facebook pretty quickly.. Including a recreation of the Grade 6 class photo,with all of us standing roughly in the same position as we did way back when.
We got booted out of the pub around midnight.. The fact that just about everyone stayed to the end demonstrated how much fun people were having. A smaller group kicked on at a bar in the city.. I have no idea how big/late a night it ended up being –since the twins were born it’s not like I’m Mr Party Animal (not that I really ever was anyway…) The evening ended with pretty much everyone having had a wonderful trip down memory lane,and the realisation that even after all this time we all had a tremendous amount to talk about. There were lots of promises to catch up…Curious to see how many actually happen –personally I’m confident a fair few will,there’s already talk of another catch up some time in the next 5 years.. (I suppose given that it had been 25 years since the last time we were together,5 years is as good as tomorrow).
As for me,I had an amazing night. I had a smile on my face the whole evening.. Seeing all these people from my formative years was really special. I was pleased to see that my classmates were pretty much the same fun people they had been back in ’86. Yes,we’ve all gone our separate ways but the bond is definitely still there.
Okay,so this post has been a bit soppy…but it was just that sort of night –simply brilliant. It was a great evening, one which we’ll all remember fondly for many years to come. Rachael,Trisha,Silvana,Lisa,Sonia,Mimma,Linda,Antonija,Helen,Melissa,Ezio,Robbie,Anthony,Scott,Sean,Elvis + teachers Brian and Chris –it was really wonderful to see you again. Until next time…
