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Has anyone attended a school reunion

(81 Posts)
Judy54 Mon 15-Jun-20 14:11:36

Have you attended a school reunion and what was your experience good or bad. I have maintained contact with 2 people from my school days and we all get on well. The three of us went to a reunion a few years ago and found it anything but enjoyable. We felt like our lives were on show and that it was a competition to see who had done best. Could not wait to leave and would not do it again. Never heard from or kept contact with those we met at the reunion.

Allsaints55 Tue 16-Jun-20 09:55:57

I had a reunion when we all turned 60. I’d left my hometown and lost touch for 45 years . It was wonderful meeting up with old school friends I hadn’t seen for 45 years and we are now connected on Facebook. I found a lot of the women still looked lovely . But some of the heart throbs , boys I fancied at school were fat bald with glasses ! It was a shock . One boy I had been in love with since I was 6 ( we did have a brief relationship at 8 when we kissed ) was stood at the bar and it took me all night to pluck up courage to speak to him . Bald now happily married to someone else ?and looked completely different but strange how old feeling still stirred ?? xx

kwest Tue 16-Jun-20 09:57:56

Would never dream of going to one. What is the point? We are all different people now.

paddyanne Tue 16-Jun-20 10:03:06

I've managed to avoid them ,I still live in the same small town and see alot of the girls I went to school with on a daily basis .
The ones who moved away are on FB so if I wanted I could contact them ,I dont.
I'm very much a leave the past where it belongs sort of person and while I'll swap memories with my sister or a couple of freinds who were workmates I prefer not to wallow in mid 1900's.
Thats sound awful now I've written it down,but on the few occassions I've gone down memory lane by visiting old haunts or old homes it hasn't been a good experience.During lockdown we started walking around the town,some streets I haven't been in for 50+ years and I didn't like it.My parents home for instance which always had a garden that lifted all the prizes is neglected and forlorn and I literally wept when I saw it .I'll stick with the here and now ...schooldays weren't particularly happy I couldn't wait to leave and get on with LIFE .

lovebeigecardigans1955 Tue 16-Jun-20 10:03:48

I keep in touch with a couple of girls who were in the same class but no more. We don't really have that much in common except for the past. Our lives have turned out so differently.

I don't think I'd go to a reunion. 'The past is another country' as they say - for many of us, adolescence wasn't a wonderful time so why revisit it? Even down our local High Street I've never bumped into any of the old girls - it's like they've all been sucked into some sort of vortex.

I wouldn't want to reconnect with some of those girls who were bullies or who intimidated me. I never felt part of the 'in-crowd' but it would be interesting to know what happened next to our classmates.

Crazygran Tue 16-Jun-20 10:05:50

Can’t think of anything worse to do , didn’t enjoy school when I was there due to bullies so wouldn’t want to go back !!!!

Alishka Tue 16-Jun-20 10:05:59

I used to browse Friends Reunited (remember that?) and there was a section for Schools. It was a real BraggingFest mainly, but I remember someone writing that they'd "never forget" a poem I'd written. A poem I'd completely forgotten and couldn't' recall grin
My Best Friend was a girl who lived near me and we made a Blood Pact (pricking our fingers with a pr. of compasses to intermingle) that we'd be each others bridesmaids.
Many years later she found me and I became her bridesmaid flowers

Esmerelda Tue 16-Jun-20 10:06:29

I attended one when I was 50 too (seems to have been a popular milestone). It was great and I really enjoyed meeting up with others who I hadn't seen for years, although I'd always kept in touch with two or three friends. Mine was an all girls school and I have to say all the women at our reunion were smashing. I even got back in touch with a couple of friends (one who lives in Australia and another in South Africa) and we exchange emails regularly now. All in all it was a very positive experience and I'm only sorry that yours was so miserable Judy54. Chin up, we're not all like that!

Marmight Tue 16-Jun-20 10:08:30

I went to one 17 years ago at the organisers home who had got our year together via Friends Reunited. There were about 15 of us (girl’s school) only one of whom I’d kept in touch with. It was weird. Most looked just the same only 35 years older. The shy girl with a speech impediment had become a loud chain smoker; the brain box had become an even more boring architect, the farm girl whose brother was my first boyfriend, had eschewed life on the stage and film for marriage to a multi millionaire. The hostess who had been the ‘naughty’ one was living in blissful suburbia with a headmaster husband; the wealthy one we all envied had fallen on hard times; then there was the one I thought was someone else- no wonder she thought I was odd blush. And then there was me. Heaven knows what they thought. Despite promises to meet again, we haven’t and I am secretly relieved; we had all gone in different directions and were different people with only 5 years, back in the 60’s, in common.

Milest0ne Tue 16-Jun-20 10:10:46

My old girl's grammar school has had an annual dinner for 50 years and then when we all got older we had an annual lunch. This had now discontinued due to falling numbers and age .Everyone who went to the dinner / lunch enjoyed keeping up with friends and it was an enjoyable experience all round. I miss our annual reunion

Juicylucy Tue 16-Jun-20 10:11:21

I went to an all girls school it was a hotbed for nasty girls even back in the sixties. So I wouldn’t have any interest in going to one.

Jacquetta Tue 16-Jun-20 10:12:18

I would rather eat my own feet
.I'm 70 and if I live to be 100 I hope I never see any of those people again.

NannyG123 Tue 16-Jun-20 10:13:40

I met up with a couple of school friends a couple of years ago, we used to be best friends outside of school. We kept in touch for a while then life and children took over and it was just a xmas card every year. But about 4 yes ago 1 friend suggested we meet up. Go got on so Well, we meet up about 3 time a year. Not this year yet tho. This year we met on house party.

Alexa Tue 16-Jun-20 10:17:11

Janeainsworth, true, of course they have something in common.

However what they have in common will have been remembered differently except for superficial not deeply felt memories . People grow and evolve and have different emotional associations.

Grannyshome Tue 16-Jun-20 10:19:07

In 2002 I helped organise one for the girls of my school, year 34/36 years after we left. I traced 84 of the 85 girls (since found the last one). 54 were able to attend not only from throughout the UK but as far away as Australia, Canada and Spain.

I have never seen or heard so much joy and laughter from women enjoying each others company. Some had done better in life than others but that wasn't really what mattered. It was the tales of "adventures" shared long ago that kept the night buzzing. Many of the girls have stayed in touch and still refer back to that amazing evening.

Keep an open mind and go with no expectations other than to enjoy. You might be surprised by what nice women some of those girls you disliked have become.

Skweek1 Tue 16-Jun-20 10:20:46

The interesting thing is meeting people with whom you had nothing in common back then and discovering that they were quite pleasant people after all!

helgawills Tue 16-Jun-20 10:24:12

I went to School (all girls) in Germany, and travelling is awkward as no direct flights. Went in 2003, 35 years after leaving, my mother was in hospital, so extra reason to go. It was the last time I saw my mother, she passed 3 weeks later. The reunion was very friendly, sadly it also was the last time I saw my best friend, with whom I had stayed in touch.
Another friend, whose Mum would not allow her to wear mini skirts, used to stop at my house on her way to school, to roll her skirt up at the waist. I had lost touch with her but we have stayed in touch since, and she has been to visit me here.

jaylucy Tue 16-Jun-20 10:33:04

I went to my old school reunion - the school itself was about to close, so it was decided that it would give a chance for all students to come back and share their memories and experiences with each other and also some members of staff.
My eldest brother went to the same school, so we went together.
Maybe it wasn't the best time for me as I had just returned to the UK after my marriage breakdown , but I found it the most degrading experience I can ever remember!
Apart from meeting up again with someone that had been my best friend at that school - we lost touch after I left school at 16 and got a job, she stayed on for 6th form. Gladly we have stayed in touch.
It was the very first time that I ever had a conversation with the headmaster! He usually was only visible 3 times a year at the beginning of each term when he gave the same speech of "Life is what you make it" (very true but didn't think it at the time) .
The place even smelt the same (boiled cabbage and chalk) but what I found the hardest was that apart from my friend, no one remembered me! Apart from one chap who's memory of me was that he used t have to look up at me to talk to me (I'm only 5ft 5 and he is now only a couple of inches taller!)
They all remembered my friend, (especially the guys) but I must have been pretty much invisible! I also had one girl ask when my baby was due - brilliant as my son was 18months old and due to comfort eating I hadn't lost my baby weight - she, sylph like then went on to say that her baby was 2 months old!!! Thankfully I hadn't been friends with her back then !
All in all, despite my friend trying to persuade me to go to others, I will never ever attend another one !

Nan0 Tue 16-Jun-20 10:33:05

My old school has changed so much that going back ..I did once..its unrecognisable apart from some of the buildings. I keep in touch with a couple of friends but going back actually terrifies me.. Cant bring myself to go back..I was very unhappy there..but we had a good education..it was a boarding school founded for daughters of impoverished clergy apparently...

Jillybird Tue 16-Jun-20 10:33:29

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HannahLoisLuke Tue 16-Jun-20 10:33:45

I belong to my school fb group and a couple if years ago I did go to a reunion.
I didn't know a soul, they were all from a later era than me.
I did enjoy looking through the huge albums that the organiser had acquired from a late, much loved teacher and saw lots of stuff from my time.
The people at the reunion were all very pleasant but I felt a bit like a fish out of water so haven't been to any more.

Happysexagenarian Tue 16-Jun-20 10:44:07

My school did a reunion about 25 years ago but I wasn't invited, probably because I had always lived 'out of borough' so didn't socialise with school friends outside of school and lost touch when we all left. I heard about the reunion through Friends Reunited and a few ex pupils got in touch. It was interesting hearing what they had done in their adult lives and how successful some of them had been, but I don't think we had a lot in common anymore. Another reunion was planned if enough people were interested, but I don't think it happened. I'm not sure if I would have gone anyway.

Justanotherwannabe Tue 16-Jun-20 10:51:21

I went to our school reunion forty year on, full of trepidation, but I quite enjoyed it although I didn't recognise half (most?) of the girls (women) there. The slim gorgeous girl had put on weight, the podgy girl is now fit and slim, and some looked much older than their years. How have we got so old?

No I didn't enjoy school, but I found that I could meet the others as an equal, my life has been as varied, if not quite so interesting, as some of them. They had done some really amazing things and it was interesting to hear their stories. Sadly a couple of good friends had died.

hicaz46 Tue 16-Jun-20 10:55:40

I arranged one for my schoolyear about 30 years ago. About 70 people turned up. It was thoroughly enjoyable, ex pupils, ex teachers everyone seemed to have a great time. It was so successful that I arranged another one 5 years later actually at the school. Since then several people have been in constant touch and our old school which no longer exists has a facebook group which is flourishing.

dolphindaisy Tue 16-Jun-20 10:58:39

I hated the grammar school I went to and have no desire to meet up with most of my old classmates. However I'm still best friends with someone I met when we were 11 and we've been close ever since.

4allweknow Tue 16-Jun-20 11:00:31

Yes a few years ago. Having moved around quite a bit I didn't have much contact with many people from school but went along as school had been relatively enjoyable. Not for me, found that those who had maintained contact or had remained living locally were just not interested in anything I had done since school and just seem to talk about who had seen whom lately, almost like a coffee morning. Very few males in attendance and they too seemed at a loss. Perhaps it was just too parochial, found it boring and very disappointing.