‘Incredible’ friends catch up at 50-year Spalding High School reunion
A group of ‘incredible’ friends came together to catch up at a landmark school reunion.
Pals from as far afield as Sheffield and Somerset - plus Spain via videolink - met up again 50 years after beginning their education at Spalding High School.
“It’s a bit like being back at school again, everybody chatting,” said organiser Mary Hare.
“As you walk in, you know that sound of people talking and talking and talking, it was that, the usual jokes.”
The group began their education in the 1974-75 school year and held their first get-together in 1996, 15 years after leaving.
But 29 years on from that day, they met up again at The Sessions House to turn back the clock once more to catch up on further life milestones.
“We’ve all got to a point in our lives when we’ve been through good things and bad things, but it’s a year of women with incredible careers and resilience and the ability to face and grow,” Mary added.
“We’ve got research people in medicine, there’s a doctor who retrained as a lawyer and now practices medical law, a space physicist and two award-winning artists.
“This was an incredible group of women who were being educated in the Spalding area in the 70s.
“We had war-generation parents who supported us going out to do stuff. I come from West Pinchbeck and if you’re from a small place like that then the big wide world in the 80s would look terrifying.”
But despite the many successful careers in the room, that wasn’t always the talking point.
“It’s very interesting what people remember about you,” said London-based Mary, who was still acknowledged for the way she would eat an apple whole, core and all.
Old photos of 70s fashions may have been ‘avoided like the plague’ but familiar faces were still recognisable.
“I don’t think any of us need that reminder, and I doubt if you went into any of our homes you’d see a reminder of that,” Mary joked, reflecting on some old hairstyles.
“But there was a general feeling of ‘you haven’t changed’. People walked up to people and knew who they were. They still resemble who they were at school.”
Due to busy lives and living abroad - one classmate lives in Spain and another in Sweden - not everyone could attend the event. However, a videolink was set up to allow those who were unable to make it to catch up with pals.
The ladies - who have sadly lost five of their old school friends over the years - keep in touch with one another via a Messenger group, which can be added to when another former schoolfriend is found.
This, of course, will prove useful as there are already talks about staging another reunion.