Saturday was the day of my high school reunion. I went to Clayfield College from 1965 to 1969. When my family left Australia I was in grade 11. I haven’t been back since then.
One of my other classmates Libby met us at Mandy’s house. Mandy drove us to Clayfield College for a tour. When I was at Clayfield College they had about 300 students. The school now has almost 1000 students. They have a brand new primary school building. There were lots of other new buildings and the school has bought a lot of the surrounding property. The boarding school is in what used to be a hospital across the street. The gym is in what used to be a bowling alley. It is a beautiful impressive campus. We had a two hour tour.
There were about 15 of us on the tour including many of the boarders from our class. I boarded for one term. I think we were all blown away by how things have changed. The old boarding school has been demolished. The boarders life was pretty Spartan back in the 1960’s. Boarders shared cramped dormitories and the food was basic. We washed our hair in basins under the old boarding house.
When our guide told us about things like restaurant quality chefs and private rooms with attached bathrooms for seniors the former boarders broke out in laughter. The buildings were beautiful.
Our reunion lunch was at a restaurant in a very nice area of Brisbane. The restaurant was great because they let us sit and talk and have a leisurely lunch. We picked up where we left off 40 years ago and didn’t leave the restaurant until after 5.
Duke had a great day too with Noel, Mandy’s husband. They hiked and bought fresh boiled prawns on the beach then had prawns and beer for lunch.
My pictures from the reunion are on Flickr here.
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