OS Reunion 60-74 Leavers

There was once an adage that floated around the School buildings. It was like a crane fly (daddy longlegs to use the vernacular) that drifted about lazily, annoying, but not annoying enough to do anything about.

This adage was that those from the 1960’s and early 1970’s didn’t want to re-engage with the School because, oh I don’t know, society at the time etc, or the School was a harsh place (yes indeed but was so before and after), and all sorts of other excuses that had attached themselves to this particular daddy longlegs like bits of dust after it had crawled about upon the unreachable parts of the curtains.

But old adages become normalised, they become old wives tales (can I still say that?), and the truth is somewhat lost. So, your illustrious team at the Development Den thought it was about time we challenged this, and made our plans accordingly.

The plan was simple, a reunion dinner for 50 people at Brown’s in Covent Garden. Within days we had 100 booked to attend and we had to hire an extra room. The daddy longlegs was released into the wild to be seen no more.

It was a spectacular afternoon with some of the finest people I have had the pleasure to meet. They came from far and wide, indeed even from the USA and Thailand. Some hadn’t seen their friends for 60 years but within an instance they were back, remembering their roots, and remembering their friendships.

Thank you to all those that made the journey to London to celebrate our past. Come back soon, in 2025, to celebrate our future.

Jan van der Velde