Staying Connected (with a little help from the Green and Silver Club)

For those of us who are less green and more silver it can be quite challenging to find former classmates from over 40 years ago, particularly where someone has changed their surname. But with a combination of detective work that would put Sherlock to shame, plus some chance encounters, we have found nearly 30 of our old school friends from the late 60s and early 70s. From a year group of just over 60 pupils we think that’s a pretty good percentage.

We’ve had a number of face-to-face reunions over the past 10 years with numbers growing all the time. Some of us who live in the same area meet up more regularly for walks, lunch or just a quick coffee. The biggest success was bringing together 22 of us at the Surbiton Assembly Rooms to view the restored frieze that in our school days was across the back wall of the Assembly Hall and unremarkable due to its rather dingy colour.

L to R round the table: Liz Higgs, Sue Allen (nee Thomas), Sarah Searle (nee Corbett), Helen Lawson (nee Laithwaite), Vicky Baker (nee Lowein)

When the pandemic struck it became so important to maintain connections outside of your own four walls. Even the most hardened of people can feel scared and vulnerable when faced with a global crisis of such epic proportion and over which they have little if any control. So we set up a monthly zoom call (and we didn’t need to ask our grandchildren how); just 40 minutes once a month where we exchange anecdotes and share news. Some months we had 15 people on the call; once there were just two of us. We’ve had a virtual tour round someone’s new house; we’ve watched someone chop carrots into tiny pieces, whilst chatting to us, to get their grandchildren to eat vegetables; and we’ve had a masterclass on claiming our state pension.

And now we’re tentatively starting to think about an actual in-person get-together. We had to cancel one booked for Autumn 2020 so do we dare to make plans for Spring 2022? Well I think we do!

If you were in my year (1963-1974) or you have a sister who was, please do get in touch via the school.