FLOREAT 2015
to recognise one another. We all looked older, of course. But it was funny how little people had really changed. Dr Peterken, the current Headmaster, welcomed us with champagne and a short introductory speech, in which he referred to some notable achievements from our past. He was not the only Headmaster in attendance, however. Our own ‘Pot’, Richard Morgan, stood surveying us all with the same steely glint in his eyes and, rather frighteningly, remembering many of our names – purely for good reasons, we hoped. There were other familiar faces from the Common Room too, including David Levin (who also didn’t seem remotely smaller or diminished by the passing of time), Barry Wild, Charles Wright, Robin BadhamThornhill, Karl Cook and Hazelwell’s finest, Trevor Davies, who thankfully hadn’t changed one bit. It was great to catch up with them all, even if you did need to remind yourself constantly to address them by their first names and not ‘Sir’. Dinner Next up was dinner, a raucous, echoing affair. Post Harry Potter, it’s impossible to look at College now without thinking of Hogwarts, and nowhere is this more true than the cavernously vaulted dining room. I was half expecting Bruce Gardiner (NH, 1989) to whip out the Sorting Hat when he stood up to make his speech. He spoke not just as an old boy, but as a current College parent, and extremely eloquent he was too, especially for someone more frequently seen putting the fear of God into opposing front rows during the winter of 1989. Malcolm Sloan then read out a very entertaining letter, written by Richard Morgan to the parents of a certain member of our year in attendance, explaining in forensic and highly amusing detail why his presence at College could no longer be tolerated.
Rupert Savage (Xt, 1989), James Peters (H, 1989), Alex Oldfield (NH, 1989), Damian Phillips (Xt, 1989) & Emlyn Rees (H, 1989)
1989 Chandos Ladies, Fiona Jerman, Alison Towers, Hayley James, Sarah Dyer, Ailsa Chapman, Michelle Maddocks , Melody Curtoys & Emily Tarrant
Barry Wild (Past Staff Member), Fiona Wild, Trevor Davies (Past Staff Member), Anne Davies, Rosemary Rowland & Lynn Rowland (Xt, 1962)
Mike Cooke (NH, 1989), John Barter (NH, 1989), Ed Dickinson (H, 1989) & Alex Peterken (Headmaster)
Robin Badham-Thornhill (H, 1973 & Past Staff Member), Nick Brett (Xt, 1989), Piers Thornewill (BH, 1989) & Ollie Haynes (BH, 1989)
Will Meere (NH, 1989), Matt Hall (L, 1989), David Harmston (L, 1989), John Barter (NH, 1989), Matt Rees (NH, 1989) & Ollie Haynes (BH, 1989)
Richard, to his credit, told a similar story himself about an old boy he’d had a similar encounter with, only then to meet him several years later on a train. The lessons learned? People change over time, rivalries diminish, but no one ever really forgets.
I have to admit that my memory of events becomes somewhat hazy from here onwards – a result, no doubt, of too much rich food. The night ended some time in the morning at the bar in the Queen’s Hotel. Old friendships had been renewed. The past had been toasted. And whoever we’d been back then – sportos, geeks, waistoids, dweebies (to paraphrase from the classic 80s movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – we’d all also shown that we were now someone else, someone new, men and women who’d been launched into adult life by College, and had grown.
As the next course arrived, stories continued to flow along with the wine, and the Hogwarts-like atmosphere worked its magic: the years slipped away, until looking across the dining room at so many familiar faces from the past – and, admittedly, with a little help from the dim lighting – it was almost possible to imagine for a moment that none of us had ever really left at all. A final treat awaited us after dinner, when we were invited into the hallowed grounds of the Common Room bar, where I found myself, along with a few others, acting as bar staff to what appeared to be an insatiably thirsty and wide-awake crowd.
The next 25 years still seems impossible to contemplate. I hope we all make it – just as hearty and healthy – to 2039. I can’t help thinking, however, that perhaps someone should organise another reunion a little bit sooner? Or maybe, like NASA, we should just aim for the next one to take place not at College, but on Mars? n 29
EVENTS
... and enjoying the excellent dinner