My school has an Old Girls Association of which I'm a member and every year there is an Old Girls Day where former pupils can go back for the day and meet up with former classmates and teachers... socialise... have fun.
My former Nemesis.... Miss Nobbs (aka 'Old Nobbo' ) is still there, dinning English Language into the, sometimes unreceptive, ears of girls whose thoughts and dreams are elsewhere (some things never change). I started out as a total duffer at Eng Lang, and she inflicted a LOT of extra homework to bring me up to her extraordinarily high standards. I despised her for that at the time, but she's the first teacher I seek out when I go back, now. We're very good friends.
It's all informal but we are invited to talk with pupils about what we did when we left... our experiences at university... how our careers have progressed. I remember when I was a Sixth Former and the Old Girls used to visit. They were actually quite inspirational. I hope we do the same for the current group.
There is the traditional netball match between the Old Girls and the Sixth Form. It's fun, but the Sixth Form always win because they are school fit and most of us are now mums or simply haven't put on a netty bib in years. There are a lot of aching muscles after that game.... and they all belong to us..!!
After all the in-school activity, we usually end up going for a meal together in the evening and then somehow find our way to the Royal Standard pub which, back in our day, had a little corner out of sight of the doors where, as Sixth Formers (and no longer in school uniform) could go for a sneaky drink at lunchtime. One of the lunchtime bar staff, a guy we all called 'Scopes' would look out for any teachers who came looking. Scopes would signal us from round the bar when a known teacher came in and we would leg it behind the staff door where they couldn't search.
The last we heard of Scopes, he was being accommodated at Her Majesty's pleasure after his little personal home cannabis farm came to the attention of the police.
I enjoy meeting up my old school chums. Most of us keep in touch via Facebook, but it's still good to meet in person.
We first came together as a bunch of timid eleven year olds in the Big Hall in September 1995. The next seven years shaped the people we became. We all went off to various universities and got our degrees. We've had careers.... been through the relationship mill. Most of us are mothers now. Some of us have been married, gotten divorced and in one case, is on her second husband..!!
One of our number, Tasha Smith succumbed to cancer 18 months ago. So sad. She was a lovely girl who played the violin beautifully. The world can be cruel.
During the evening drinking, the stories about what we did back then get more exaggerated or embroidered every year with the telling, but it's all good. When the evening is over, and we all part, there are tears and hugs and promises to come back again next year. That feels good.
I don't quite make it every year, but I do look forward to it. I'll be going next year and we'll all be a little older and our lives will have changed in one way or another. But we're good friends and that's all that matters.
You never know... one year we may even win the netball match..!!
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