| Report on the Reunion 28th April 2001 |
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| It was some day! The reunion was voted a resounding success by the 130 people of all ages who attended. It was peppered with memorable incidents, many amusing, many serious but all with a palpable feeling of re-established comradeship from a wide age range of former pupils. The first hour was a wonderful time of encounter as people arrived. One person would approach another to offer a hand of welcome, stop, look closely at the face with the greying, receding or receded hairline and would smile broadly as the face metamorphosed into its once youthful features. An exclamation of names or nicknames rang round the reception desk as friendships of previous eras were re-kindled. Some ‘wee guys’ were now well over six feet, some ‘big guys’ were now on eye level with those of us who had grown a few inches in the intervening years. Veterans of the 1980’s mixed freely with those of previous generations and everyone wanted a word with George ‘Mac’ McKenzie who was a student in Blairs from 1928-34 (this is not a misprint). The furthest travelled was Joe Meehan (Canada) and other ‘foreigners’ included a number of exiles returning from England, and our own Welsh wizard, Peter Gorman. Pat Sweeney’s introduction was a ‘tour de force’ (did we expect anything less?) and his story of his first encounter and Platonic dialogue with ‘The Bile’ had us laughing aloud in the studyhall. (O tempora! O mores!) He set the scene for a truly memorable day. |
| Much wandering around the college, the bounds and the museum and chapel followed and one could see looks of disbelief or amused incredulity as husbands or fathers tried to describe arcane rules and traditions to their spouses and children. ‘But why were you allowed to speak in this corridor and not in that one?’ or ‘What did a sub-divider sub-divide?’ could have been typical questions…. And surely that 13-year-old with the funny ‘Seventies’ haircut in the fading photograph was not really dad who looks (almost) normal now. While this was going on a desperate attempt was being made to clear one of the pail courts of the moss, nettles and debris of 15 years of neglect so that a pail competition could be held. Once again the bounds echoed with the sound of a ball being smashed against the solid granite wall although one ‘veteran’ succeeded in kicking the ball over the twenty foot high wall more often than he hit it. ‘Mac’ declined an invitation to show us how pail was played in the 1920’s. The 3 o’clock meeting was kicked off by the taking of a college photograph on the front lawn. We then returned to the studyhall for a presentation of options by John Adams and John Brown. The level of discussion was very good and there was a unanimous decision to form an association. A small steering group will progress this and report back to another open meeting probably in the Central belt later this year. At 4.45 we had a short rehearsal for the liturgy followed by Mass at 5 o’clock. Bishop Mario Conti was warm in his welcome to everyone and especially to |
| former students of the college (he numbers himself among us) and was principal celebrant at the liturgy. Monsignor Ben Donachie and Canon Bill Anderson also concelebrated and Deacon David Forsyth assisted. The choir stalls were full and we were joined by some of the parishioners for a memorable celebration. Canon Bill’s homily was of his usual exemplary standard although those who had not mastered the intricacies of Latin poetry scansion missed his passing reference to a ‘strawberry jampot’! The Blairs organ was heard again thanks to Michael Carlin and Tom Knight and Latin and English in turn added to the glorious sung praises. There were tears in a few eyes and one or two gulps of released emotion when the marble beauty of the chapel was filled with the glorious Regina Coeli. The buffet was a fine end to a perfect day. The spirit of the day was summed up by one of the women (anyone who uses the term ‘Blairs Babes’ will be barred from membership of the association ‘sine die’). The weather was rather cold (and the heating wasn't working in the main part of the building!) but she thought it was worthwhile to suffer a little because the men were enjoying everything so much.* Who could sum the day up better than that? Not me! |
| With thanks to Dave McCann |
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| *(Is there any truth in the rumour that some of the wives are organising a support group to be called BlairsAnon with meetings to be held in the Ardoe House Hotel?) |