It
was - and it's hard to find the right adjective without seeming over-sentimental
- a heart-warming experience to meet some of our "old" WHS teachers.
Of course, they already all seemed "old" to
us when we were at school! If I ever thought about it (which I suppose
I didn't)
-
I would have
imagined
Shakey to have
been nearly forty, Ben, Jim & Stretch well over 40, and yet when
we met them in August they were
all pretty fit and spry, and in many ways hardly seemed to have changed
at all. Naturally there were a few stories of this or that ailment
(Ben has had some heart problems, but thankfully now looks very well),
but I
for one was left hoping I would look and feel as well as that when I
got into my 80s.
It was also fascinating to meet the Masters' wives. They were very pleased
to see us, and happy to chat about old times and give us another angle
on lots of things. Marjorie Shakeshaft, for example, I had remembered
as rather tense and serious at school, yet at the reunion she was really
vibrant,
smiling,
eager
to know all about us, and very chatty. And she had remembered me for
one very well, even though
I was only in Berners House from '58 to '60. Mrs Turner and Mrs Poole I'd
never met at school, and it was very nice to see them with their husbands.
If there was one regret, it was that we didn't have long enough. I didn't
have much time to talk to Stretch, for example. Perhaps next year ......
Jim Hyde now lives alone in Woolverstone, having sadly lost his wife Enid in early 2003. He was always a fascinating conversationalist, and there was no shortage of things to talk about, nor lack of trenchant and compelling convictions. He collects postcards, and would no doubt be delighted to receive some from OBs, wherever they are. Michael & Marjorie Shakeshaft now live in Felixtowe. I was very flattered to find that they both remembered me very well. They were both very relaxed and full of cheer. Ben Turner and his wife. Ben was on really good form, always with a smile and genuinely pleased to see us all. He was dead chuffed when we told him we still had pieces at home that we made in his workshop under his eagle eye. Malcolm & Pam Poole. As ever, Malcolm had plenty to say, and shared many a memory with us during the afternoon. Now living in Ipswich, he is among other things Churchwarden for Woolverstone Church, and asked if we could mention that the Church needs funds and that all contributions from OBs would be welcome! Derek & Juliet Thornbery. They gave us a super welcome, and to share memories of former times was clearly a delight. for them both. Derek keeps very busy doing all sorts of things, including showing tourist groups round Norwich Cathedral. Their back garden looks onto a cornfield, is a stone's throw from the Butt & Oyster, and has views looking over Muddy Lane of the old teacher's block!Other Old Masters? Dickie Mayes also lives in Chelmo. Barry Salmon & Dick Woollett live in Ipswich, and Barry Clarke in Felixtowe, but we didn't make contact this time. Taffy lives in Holbrook, but sadly isn't too well at present.