We planned and organized a school reunion for those who left the school in the late fifties/early sixties.  We held it at a country hotel in Thaxted, Essex  on a weekend in July 2004.   “We” included , Margaret Costin of Droitwich Spa and me (Sally Heard) from Southern California with help from Peter Cecil, now in Australia who provided names and e-dresses for quite a few "old" people.  The internet was the major tool for finding people. And, of course, once we found one person, he or she generally knew at least one other.  About 40 old Edwardians came, plus their spouses/partners.   I'll use pre-marriage names for the “girls” in case any reader remembers us at all. 

First, Janet Motley and I picked up Pat Corderey who arrived from Philadelphia at Heathrow at 7:00 a.m. on the Friday morning prior to the reunion.  Pat hadn't been back in the Romford area for 30 years and wanted to see all the old haunts and the inevitable changes. As we drove in the area, she'd say, “Let's go down that street!  My Grandma/I used to live there.”  Then, there'd be the inevitable disbelief at how the place had shrunk since the 1960's. 

We also stopped by St. Edward's on the London Road to beg, borrow or steal some old school ties.  The secretary was very accommodating and gave us several from the lost and found box.  After she'd heard our story, she went and located the current headmaster with whom we visited for about an hour.  He brought out the old punishment book and day record book from 1959-1961 and we found the names of people who'd be at the reunion. We couldn't resist copying the relevant pages to take with us.  We also discussed the 300th anniversary celebrations coming up in 2010.  They already have a service planned for St. Paul's and several of us have decided we'd like to go to it, “God willin' and the creek don't rise.”  (If you want an invitation, e-mail me at svangel@aol.com as I am planning to keep a list for the purpose.)

The evening reunion on Saturday was great fun - the women who came were all quite recognizable to me but I had no clue about the guys.  I think girls at 16 must be further along on the physical maturity ladder than the boys. My American sister-in-law had told me this was also her experience at a reunion in Ohio earlier this year so I guess it's quite common.

Three of us dressed up in white shirts and the old school ties although we later changed into party finery for the main part of the evening.  Those who arrived early seemed to enjoy our silliness as we hung out of our country hotel room windows overlooking the parking lot in our school uniforms calling "hello" to people we didn't recognize coming to join us.  During the event itself there were many shrieks of delight at seeing old friends, and long, long conversations over food, wine and beer. Lots of the latter!  The hotelier (himself an old St. Edward's student) played all the old music from the fifties/sixties but mostly it was just background because people wanted to talk. 

My husband had enlarged old photographs school taken in various years from 1954 to 1961.  These were those long ones that included all students and staff and were about nine feet long when he was done with them. We hung them on the walls around the reception room as part of the decorations and gave them as the evening wore on to those who wanted them.  I'd also found the script for the 250th anniversary pageant in the attic in my old home in Ilford. Janet was the History Narrator and I was the School Narrator and several others at the reunion recognized themselves as having done various parts. Others showed up with photographs and assorted memorabilia so we all had a lot of fun discussing events and trips and friendships. 

The party didn't break up until about 1 a.m., a most satisfactory event!  Some stayed at the hotel for the night and we picked up our conversations the next morning over breakfast.

One of the nicest things for me has been not only seeing old friends and putting names to unrecognizable photos but also making new friends from among the crowd. 

Prior to the St. Edward's reunion, we learned the whereabouts of Arthur Stock, the geography teacher from our St. Edward's years.  He was unable to attend the reunion because he cares for his invalid wife and also had a long-scheduled family event the same weekend.  So, Janet Motley, Peter Cecil, Michael Gorbold and I went for a rather surreal day to visit him up in the dales of Derbyshire.  The three others hadn't seen each other since around 1960.  And none of us knew Michael at all.  I'd found him on the internet, exchanged a few friendly notes and asked him to join us.  It was definitely different!  The four of us didn't stop talking the entire day.  Peter, who I figured would know his way around a map, got us lost. We made side excursions every time we saw a castle on a hill to be explored or sheep that needed to be photographed.  For lunch, Mr. Stock took us to an ancient English establishment where Mary Queen of Scots was incarcerated for some time.  Later, in the brilliant sunshine and cool breezes of a typical English summer day, we sat in his garden and had tea and caught up on our lives.