Reunion

Every 10 years my senior class of 1973 holds a reunion. Even though I moved 3000 km away I did not want to miss it this year. I do not know about 2023.
Besides teaching them Geography, I also led the Travel Club which during 1972 raised money for 66 students and 10 teachers to go on a month's camping trip to New Zealand.

The Travel Club was started by another teacher in 1965 (to Central Australia) and at the end of 1966 (my first year of teaching) I joined it for my first visit to New Zealand. I still keep in touch with some of those students.
In 1967 we went to North Queensland, in 1968 to Central Australia and Darwin then I took over and led another group to NZ in 1969.
In 1970/71 we went to Tasmania and in 1971 to North Queensland again.
Then followed this 3rd trip to NZ and it was the biggest group. At the end of 1973 I took the following year group back to Tasmania and then, to the annoyance of many parents, I set off on my own trip to Asia and Europe in 1974 and the club folded. Such trips would probably be impossible today due to the red tape demanded now. 

Anyway I flew to Sydney 2 weeks ago, stayed with my sister and joined one of the students, Graham, in a hotel for the weekend. Graham and I became very close and later I was best man at his wedding. We drove to the Southern beach suburb of Cronulla for afternoon drinks on the Saturday followed by a dinner/dance then back again on Sunday morning for a breakfast cruise of Port Hacking. I am told over 80 ex-students attended and there were over half the students from the trip to New Zealand.

Here is a photo of those in the Travel Club who were present at the dinner. I am holding the blackboard.

Then there is a photo taken of the original group in New Zealand in January 1973. I am on the far right back to van, aged just 29.

You will have to click on the photos to see them properly

Reunion Update and other matters

The reunion went well and I think it was worth all that money. The bus to Christchurch was bearable - just 3 others onboard,  I think overseas students. The problem was that we arrived at the airport at 2.30am and my plane left at 7am. I seem to spend far more time than I like hanging around airports. The captain said we would take less than 3 hours but, as we approached Sydney, the heavy air traffic meant we circled over the Tasman twice and landed nearly 3 and half hours after takeoff at 8.25am Sydney time.  I only took hand luggage and the customs officials were unusually cooperative so I was on the train just after 9 am and at my sister's home before 10am.

I slept until 1 pm, had lunch then lay down again until nearly 3, showered and changed, and set off for the reunion at 3.45.  I felt remarkably ok. It was not far away and was set for 4pm till late.  There were only about 15 of us, including one teacher.

Only one, Dennis, could have been said to have been in my group at school but it is strange how guys who hardly connected at age 16 can be very easy to be with now we are 66 plus. I guess those 5 years at a rather remarkable school give us a bond. I left at 10pm and the few who remained did not look like staying much longer.

The teacher, Rod, was my Latin teacher which I only studied for 3 of the 5 years. However he was also the teacher-in-charge of the school Christian group so had an enormous influence on me.  He went on to become Principal of one of the leading Anglican schools. At one time there was trouble over homosexuality at the school and I wrote to him and we met for afternoon tea.  He expressed regret that he had not been able to help me at the time I was at school.   However in the late 50's homosexuality was never discussed.  I did not understand my feelings until I studied psychology at university.  I have a feeling he would have advised me to see psychiatrists who, in those days, treated people with "sexual disorders".  Receiving such treatment at age 27 was bad enough, I do not know how I might have coped as a teenager. 

Rod has always expressed pleasure at meeting me again and asked if I had a partner.  I told him I felt more at home in the Dunedin diocese than in Sydney and let him deduce what he might from that.  My feelings for him are mixed as are my feelings about my evangelical upbringing.  It developed my faith and gave me a strong sense of Christian certainty but at the same time I blame it for many of the problems I have had to deal with over the years.

My best mate at school, Peter,  sadly died of cancer in 2004 and I missed him at the reunion.  Rod was also important to him and visited him in his last weeks.  He also became a teacher and a Christian School Principal.  A week before he died, I rang him and we were discussing some of the hymns we loved to sing such as "Blessed Assurance".  I remarked that things had seemed so much simpler in those days and Peter replied that they sure were and real life was really far more complicated.

I knew Dennis, like me, had met up with another in our group about 10 years ago. Trevor was brilliant and gained higher degrees in both English and Science. but sadly has bipolar disorder and a problem with alcoholism. He had a difficult time at school due to his extreme feminism.  I lunched with him at the time but feel guilty that it was so unpleasant that I never repeated  it.  Dennis said that, when they met, he found his overt homosexuality hard to deal with, I stated that was not a problem for me and let Dennis deduce what he might from that.

Sydney from Watson's Bay

On Wednesday I slept in, booked my last free flights with United Airlines (to Sydney and back next Easter) then went to the city with my sister. After some shopping, we walked to the Quay and caught a ferry to Watson's Bay for seafood lunch. The Harbour was sparkling but not too hot, one thing I do like about Sydney.

Thursday I flew home, this time with Jetstar who cannot match Air New Zealand for service. They are a subsidiary of Qantas and I always say "I am an Australian, I never fly Qantas." I waited another 4 hours at Christchurch airport for the Air New Zealand flight back to Dunedin in a very small plane which struck turbulence over the Northern hills. I was very relieved when we came down out of the cloud and I saw Mt Cargill (the highest local point) was still comfortably below us.

Tomorrow, Sunday,  I will be spending my first day as a volunteer on the Taieri Gorge Railway which takes passengers from cruise ships up into the scenic area behind the city. There are over 80 cruise ships visiting Dunedin this summer so that should keep me out of mischief.

Reunions

I knew that reunions, and unfortunately also funerals, would be a problem when I moved to New Zealand. I missed Garry's funeral back in April.

In August I went to Australia for 12 days primarily for a reunion of the school where I taught for 15 years. I combined it with a holiday in Victoria. The actual reunion was disappointing mainly because it was for all students at a school which is celebrating 60 years this year. There were not many attending that I knew and there were no name tags. Guys my age were asking me if I was a student at their time and it was hard to decide if anyone was someone I taught.  I had black hair and no glasses in those days.  I only stayed about 2 hours. Fortunately I flew over on frequent flyer points.

Tomorrow is a reunion of my own class after 50 years and I have managed to get cheap flights. However the flight leaves Christchurch at 7am tomorrow and, rather than stay at a motel (and check out about 5am), I am catching the Knightrider bus which leaves Dunedin at 9.30pm and arrives Christchurch airport at 3.15am.  I will arrive my sister's home about 10am so hope I can get some rest before heading out for the reunion about 4.30pm.

I am only staying 2 nights and flying back on Thursday.  Fortunately, while flying into Christchurch,  I managed to get a flight onto Dunedin for the same price as the bus. I will have to pay for the shuttle from the airport to home but will be home 5 hours earlier.

I do hope this reunion is better and makes the trip worthwhile.

School Reunion

Some of you kindly asked for a report so here it is.

The reunion was of my class of 1988 so they would now be about 36-37 years of age. I believe there were about 100 there including 10 members of staff. It was a senior boys Catholic college which was a unique school. When I started there in 1976 it had about 250 boys in years 11 and 12 collecting students from 5 feeder schools. It was hard to get a place so the standard was high and I thought it was nirvana. By the time I left in 1991, it had 500 boys, still just years 11 and 12 (16 & 17 yrs old) , coming from just 2 feeder schools so the standards had fallen greatly and I was not sorry to leave. They closed the school in the late 90's as the Diocese now prefers colleges to include the full years 7 to 12. Strangely the State school system is now creating these senior colleges.

The reunion was held in a large Sports Club near to the school but about 80 km from my home so I decided to book into the Travelodge Hotel which is above the club for the night and to travel each way by train. Not being willing to leave my car at the railway station on a Saturday night (vandalism is rife) I had to walk the kilometre to and from the station, unfortunately up hill and down both ways.

Almost exactly 4 years ago there was a reunion of my class of 1979. This was when the school was smaller, I knew most of the students and although I was not 'out' until a year or so later, a small group of gay students quickly took me into their group (outing me to the staff of that time by telling me to come and join the photo being taken of the gays) and I had a wonderful night.

Last night's year group came from the time of larger cohorts when everyone knew my sexuality and I only taught about one third of them so last night I spent more time with my fellow teachers.

The Principal of the time was present for about 1 hour. He is a religious brother, now in his late 70's and still teaching full time. I felt a bit guilty saying I had retired in my early 60's. I know he had a hard time having to defend my continued employment to several groups of parents at the time but has always remained friendly to me. The principal who followed was less supportive although much younger.

I will use initials for the students as I know too well the power of google.

I was disappointed that I did not meet up with DF who sent me the email in the earlier post. His name was on the list but I did not teach him and only had a grainy class photo to go by, so may have missed him. I think I will email him this week.

Most conversations on these nights are about what they have done since school, usually how they loved my subject and my teaching although they rarely used Geography in later life but like to tell me little bits they still remember and are sorry for all the trouble they caused (which I have usually forgotten).

I approached SD myself. He is very tall so stood out and although he had a completely shaved head, I recognised him easily. He was in my Student Advisor group (we kept these groups for the 2 years and saw them daily, following their general progress through the school). Shall I say he was a sensitive boy and was obviously delighted last night that I recognised and approached him. After general discussion as above, I took the opportunity when some of the others standing in the group were discussing their children to ask SD if he had any family. He said no but was very attached to his sister's children. He went no further but I will always wonder.

LS approached me and I recognised him immediately. He spent most of his time in class tormenting me. He readily admitted he had been a handful but he was the type of student who would mock my idiosyncrasies, drive me crazy as he prevented me finishing the lesson but usually have me end up laughing despite myself. He had the most avant garde haircut of the night and told me he was a hairdresser (hmmm) but soon described his children (ohh). He now owns a chain of shops with over 80 employees many of them apprentices so says he now understands some of the responsibilities of a teacher.

My night was made by PD. He was also in my student advisor group as had been his brother GD 7 years earlier. GD had been in a group of very religious and very bright boys with whom I had developed a special bond as they took the top level in Geography. They were at the school when the local television station's news program kindly outed me by zooming in on me while sitting in a gay rights meeting. It was all over the school the next day and I remember their shocked looks.

I asked PD how his brother G was going and he replied that he was living happily with his male partner. Then he added. Can I speak seriously for a moment. I want to thank you for being so open and honest about being gay. It taught us a lot as we respected you so much as a teacher. It made it so much easier when my brother G came out many years later. We use to stand up for you in the playground when the other guys knocked you for being gay. You were our teacher and our student advisor and we told them we loved you (yes he used the word love).

I was overwhelmed, Thank You God for PD and his words to me. They made my night.