Reunion 27th September 2002

Tree Planting (Thursday Morning)

Pre-Reunion Drinks (Thursday Evening)

A few of us met for a couple of drinks at The Old Lodge, including Debbie from Australia who was staying the night there and Dave from Victoria/Canada. To be honest I cannot remember exactly who was there and as there were no photographs taken as far as I know I have nothing to check back on. Perhaps somebody made notes?

Morning Coffee & Lunch

The day turned out fine, although it was to come in cloudy later. I was down at The Old Lodge at 9:30am already to get things sorted out and the first guests started to arrive at about 10:30am, in fact Mike Carey was the first but after that numbers soon grew to just over 20. We had coffee and ordered lunch, a special menu that had been printed out for us. I had a collection of old MGS badges, on loan from the school, and an old school tie of unknown origin on display. There was also a copy of "Recollections" and "The Daffodil Saga" available in case the memory needed jogging. There was a lot to talk about, many of us had not met since we left school and so a lot of catching up had to done. Fortunately we had the whole day ahead of us so we could relax at the same time as trying to get all the anecdotes and recollections sorted out. Lunch was served at about 12:30pm; it took me a while to get everybody away from the Bar! Lunch was the usual high standard (one reason why I decided on The Old Lodge) and was followed by a dessert and coffee. I held a speech (unrehearsed) and went through the plan for the rest of the afternoon. We then went our separate ways before slowly walking up to the school to meet again at 4pm as I had arranged. Click Here for More Photographs

New School Library

Once we were all grouped up at the East Wing, the former MGS Steve Fearnley, the deputy head, met us and took us into the new library, located where the MGS kitchen and dining area used to be. He had dug out all the material pertinent to our years, including lots of photographs, which are usually kept in the Maltonians Section located off the main library. This is a sort of alcove where the washing-up used to be done I assume. There is so much material in the archives that the time wasn't there to study everything in detail, I had spent numerous hours up there already and still haven't seen everything. Another visit is certainly worth it, when there is more time to sit and relax. By this time it was getting rather cloudy and I was concerned that it would start to rain before we had the tree dedication ceremony, but then we all moved outside and the headmaster, David Roberts, joined us. Click Here for More Photographs

Tree Presentation

Once at the tree opposite the main entrance to the former MGS building and which now had plaque in front of it, I held another speech and then handed over the trees to the headmaster, David Roberts. I charged him and the school with their continued care and to keep them well watered. I unveiled the plaque, well, removed the plastic carrier bag that had covered it since the previous day, but the idea was the same. Thought had gone to having a little curtain made for the unveiling, but that would have meant bending down to pull the cord but I may never have got back up again! I intend to continue photographing the trees over the coming years and will add these to a photo collection. Click Here for More Photographs

Tour of the School

We then went on a tour of the school, starting in the East Wing, better known to us as MGS, eventually breaking into smaller groups. We met Mr. Williams, our biology teacher from 1971 when he took over from Mr. Reed who retired when the school went comprehensive. He is still teaching up at the school after all these years. He produced our homework and exam marks out of his record book and some of us were surprised as to how well we must have done! He promised to scan these and to let me have them sometime. Of course when we got to the quad a tennis-ball appeared - no visit is complete without a quick game of quad-football and some of the "boys" did just that. We had a good look around the various classrooms, including the Biology Lab (complete with a very suspicious looking burn marks on the ceiling - something for Kevin to investigate) and the Physics Lab, which have not changed at all since our days and that includes the typical odour of chemicals and whatever else hangs in the air in such places. Yes, the typical smells are still there, including the "old school" smell in the corridor of the original building, it hits you as soon as you enter and several commented on it, almost as if a ghost had come back to haunt us. We all found that the corridors seemed much shorter than we remembered, but I am sure the length of the buildings hasn't changed and so it must be us! Somebody said we had grown since our school days, but I am still the same height today as when I joined the RAF straight from school in January 1973, so it must be something else, but what? We moved on to the West Wing, the former MCM building and regrouped. Some went on a quick tour, others stayed at the entrance chatting and were joined by Mr. Ewing who is still the sports teacher just like he was in our own days. Eventually we expressed our thanks for the tour and bade our farewells to the headmaster and his deputy and started to head back town, it must have been well after 5pm by then. Click Here for More Photographs

Evening Buffet & Dance

Music was in the air soon after 7pm and the buffet was opened by 8pm, by which time the music was playing at full strength and we had settled down for an evening full of merriment. The buffet was, I thought, excellent. There must have enough to go around and there was still some "nibbles" available well into the evening. The staff really put some effort into the buffet and it helped make the evening such a success. Once everybody had settled into their buffet I handed out the "Trivia Quiz" question sheets (see below) so everybody made a start marking or at least guessing the correct answers. Most questions were based on information out of this website, that of Malton School or otherwise general knowledge. It must have been about 9:15pm when "time" was called and I went through the answers. There was some debate as to whether Wendy Barker broke her leg doing the long jump or the high jump but in the end a winner was found. With 26 correct answers, John Wardle won the leather writing case, second prize, a CD from Dolly Parton went to Susan (Lee), both donated by Dave Preston. My consolation prize, a video "1967 - A Year to Remember" went to Mike Carey for the least number of correct answers. The rest of the evening was dedicated to music, chatting, dancing and whatever else one does at reunions until the disco had to be turned off at the midnight deadline I had been given. By then we were tired anyway and some had already left. Once I was back home I checked the Nainotlam from December 1968 and the Junior News clearly states Wendy Brown broke here leg doing the Long Jump on Sports Day and that was the answer. Next time it will be Barry Dalton's leg we will ask about. I estimate the numbers for the evening to have been about 38, there wasn't a register of who actually came though I do have a list of all those who had replied and paid. I think the photos will bear witness to those who were there and the main thing is that we all enjoyed ourselves, lets not worry about statistics. Of particular note were the overseas guests, Janet Marwood and Debbie (Longstaff) from Australia, Steve Hale from the USA and Dave Preston from Canada. Some of these journeys made my "hop" over from Germany seem almost insignificant. Of course many more travelled from all the corners of England & Scotland and I do not want to ignore this, but a list of everybody is, I think, not necessary. The Malton School Guest Book did go around during the evening and there were plenty of entries. I glued a sample name badge at the bottom of our entries and added a few comments - something to look out for when you are next up at the school. Click Here for More Photographs

Trivia Quiz

Post-Reunion Lunch (Saturday)

Several of our group who had been unable to join us for the actual reunion arrived for lunch on the Saturday. About 20 of us picked up from the previous day and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. A press photographer was supposed to have called in on us during lunch as the local paper wanted to bring a report, but nobody turned up. After lunch I took Christine Oxtoby, her sister Susan and John Sellers (together with his wife and daughter) up to the school to have a look around. We could not get into the grounds as it was all locked up but we saw enough to have a grand time talking about the past. We could see the foundations where the Art Room once stood, how many memories do we have of that place? Our trees were still there as well. Click Here for More Photographs

The Saturday Afternoon