 |
A photograph of 3A in 1978-9 showing some of the people
addressed by this post. This post applies to everyone
in this school year at BGS and a few others besides
(not just to those in 3A) |
Calling the BGS "class of 76"
Who are "we"? Most of us entered Boston Grammar School in 1976, most of us did O Levels in 1981, many of us stayed on to take A Levels in 1983 and a handful of us remained at BGS until 1984 - and we will turn 50 in the 2014-15 academic year (with a few exceptions who are reasonable additions to the list).
If you were one of "us" or you know someone who was, then you may be interested that one of our colleagues suggested to me that a reunion in 2014-15 might be appropriate.
I realise that some of you will be more interested in the idea than others, and I realise that many of you now live a long way from Boston, but bear with me and let's see what we can do. I've listed below most of us (four of whom I have marked as "Deceased"). I have tried to contact quite a number.
Please pass the message on to others who may not have heard (whether or not they are already on the list), and please accept my apologies if you hear about this from more than one source.
It is very early days, so the main thing I would like to do at this stage is to gauge interest and gather suggestions on what we should do. If you qualify, whether you are on the list below or not, please send an email to
simonmeeds@yahoo.co.uk to let me know you have heard (I'll mark you as "Contacted" below). In the email, if you are interested in principle in a reunion, please state your preference from the options below, and feel free to include any elaboration you think might be useful; these are only very vague ideas at this stage.
- Meet at the Old Bostonian Association Annual Dinner (no you don't have to be a member of the OBA). This would not be appropriate if we got anywhere near a full turnout, since the room where it is held only takes 90 in total (at a pinch) but if we have only 10 or maybe 20, it could be an easy solution. It is usually held on a Saturday evening in March or April (2015 date yet to be announced) at the Boston and County Club near the main entrance of Central Park in Boston. As a further option we could make a week-end of it, with various events. Any ideas events of interest would be welcome. A visit to the school may be possible if desired. The reason it would need confirming is because the school is currently between Principals (Headteachers to us) and it would depend on the new post holder.
- Meet in Boston at some other time, maybe for a meal, a pub session, possibly a visit to the school (see above), any other ideas?
- Meet somewhere other than Boston. When these things are suggested, London is often a popular suggestion. It could work but bear in mind there is still probably a fair crowd in Boston, so Peterborough might also be practical, for example. While Los Angeles or Sydney might be best for you, it's just not going to happen on any meaningful scale. I hope we can organise something soon enough that those more distant from the UK can at least feel it is worth seriously considering the trip.
If you ask for my preference, I would go with 1 or 2: not because it's particularly convenient for me but because I think Boston is likely to be the most inclusive destination and should provide the most meaningful reunion. I am happy though to listen to what others think.
One final question: should we invite staff who taught us at BGS? I am in touch with a number of them and could no doubt find some more. If you had a choice, would you exclude staff? Would you want to invite as many as we can find? Would you want to only invite a select few (names)?
OK then, here's the list of people I've identified. First there are several caveats with this list:
- Sorry if I've missed you off the list
- Sorry if I've got your name wrong, or spelled it incorrectly, or only managed initials
- Sorry if I've given you your "Sunday best" name that only your Mother has ever used. I've tried to be even handed in that respect.
- The symbol ^ indicates someone who was in the third year sixth in 1982-3. These people will be 50 before the 2014-15 academic year, and probably have passed that mark already, but I feel they became part of our year group in their final year and should therefore be included
- The symbol * indicates a member of our year who is sadly deceased. I currently know of four of these. Please let me know if I need to add anyone else so that we don't spend time trying to find them, possibly causing distress to their families
- Please let me know if I've missed anyone off the list - for example, I remember one lad who was with us in 2A (and possibly the final term of the first year) but I can't remember his name (he had a Commodore Pet computer, rare in those days, and sold biorhythm charts). Also, does anyone know the girls who did Spanish at BGS with Jean Thomas - should we invite them?
| Timothy Ashberry | Contacted |
| Kevin Ashton | Contacted |
| Andrew Baines | |
| Richard Bates | |
| Steven Beck | |
| Jeremy Bennett | |
| Andrew Bimpson | Contacted |
| Nicholas Binks | Contacted |
| Christopher Bohn | |
| David Bontoft | Contacted |
| Timothy Bradbury | |
| Richard Broughton | |
| Michael Bryant | |
| Simon Callaby | |
| ^ | John Callaghan | |
| ^ | Alan Cannell | |
| John Cannon | |
| Wayne Charlton | |
| David Clarke | |
| Andrew Cocks | Contacted |
| David Cook | |
| Paul Corton | |
| Mark Craven | |
| Philip Drury | Contacted |
| Peter Evans | Contacted |
| Graeme Flynn | |
| Shaun Frestle | Contacted |
| Ian Gildersleeves | Contacted |
| John Goodacre | |
| Stephen Goor | |
| Nicholas Graves | |
| Jonathan Green | |
| Wayne Griffin | Contacted |
| Daniel Hague | |
| Andrew Hall | Contacted |
| Michael Hall | |
| Robert Hallam | |
| Richard Harris | |
| DP Harrison | |
| Nigel Harvey | Contacted |
| Michael Hipwell | Contacted |
| Neil Holland | |
| David Holt | |
| Simon Howlett | |
| William Hui | |
| Simon Hunt | Contacted |
| Mark Isaac | Contacted |
| S Johnson | |
| Martin Kay | |
| ^ | Andrew King | |
| Gary Keal | |
| Simon Lane | |
| Douglas Laver | |
| Richard Ledbury | Contacted |
| Colin Lee | Contacted |
| Christopher Lyon | Contacted |
| Dajinder Mangat | Contacted |
| Stephen Marshall | |
| * | Andrew Martin | Deceased |
| Declan McDonnell | Contacted |
| Simon Meeds | Contacted |
| Stephen Middleton | |
| Christopher Mortlock | |
| Adrian Mullen | |
| Richard Parker | |
| David Peck | Contacted |
| Geoffrey Phoenix | |
| Ian Pooley | |
| Matthew Rambaut | |
| Kevin Reeson | Contacted |
| Peter Rochford | |
| Michael Rose | Contacted |
| Paul Sharman | |
| PJ Shenton | |
| Kevin Shipp | Contacted |
| * | Mark Simpson | Deceased |
| RD Simpson | |
| Keith Smith | |
| Steven Smith | |
| David Standley | |
| Mark Stephens | Contacted |
| Paul Sullivan | |
| Timothy Sylvester | |
| * | Huw Thomas | Deceased |
| Mark Thomas | |
| Simon Twiddy | |
| Mark Vere | |
| David Wall | |
| Barry Ward | |
| * | Richard Warsop | Deceased |
| ^ | Stephen Watson | Contacted |
| John Welsh | Contacted |
| Malcolm Whiley | Contacted |
| David Williamson | Contacted |
| Ian Wood | Contacted |
| Timothy Wood | |
| ^ | Richard Woods | Contacted |
| Francis Yuill | Contacted |
Nigel Wainwright, PE teacher at Boston Grammar School since 1977 will retire at the end of the current term.
Richard Anderson has been teaching Modern Languages (French and German) at Boston Grammar School since 1971 and in doing so has inspired generations of Boston "lads" as he would call them. But his real lasting impression on those lads has often been from extra-curricular activities, having supervised clubs on topics from Cross Country to Subbuteo, and from model Railways to German.
