This is the 2010 gathering
of, from l. - r. Geoff Croft, Bob Flanders, Vernon Harris, Mike Hutton,
Ken Abel, Eric Letley and John Slater at the Cloud Hotel, Brockenhurst.
Vernon is a couple of years younger than the rest of us who started at
W.C.G.S. in 1947.
As can be seen, we are still in splendid condition, thanks to 6d school
dinners?! Glutinous mince, Pom, powdered potato and Macedoine mixed
vegetables and tapioca proofed us against anything that might assail us in
later life.
Eric lives in Brockenhurst and organises this luncheon extravaganza, each
year. Some of us were at primary school, together - Harvest Road, Kensal
Rise. We did pretty well to survive the blitz and school dinners!
If you are of similar vintage, do get in touch. I travel from the Isle of
Man, so distance is no barrier!
John Slater
Just a note to add to
John's above:-
Three of us who had kept in loose contact over the years first met up for
lunch in September 1997, the 50th anniversary of us starting at WCGS in
1947. We resolved to meet up annually thereafter and were able to make
contact with others from our year as time went by. Currently nine of us
meet up, John Pearson and Ken Durtnall were unable to make it this year.
These get togethers are very light-hearted and a number of the chaps have
been able to dig out old form photos to share with the group. For about
the past ten years, by popular resolve, we have met at The Cloud Hotel,
Brockenhurst which is very pleasantly situated in the New Forest and
provides a good 3-couse luncheon for about £20 per head. The determination
of the group to continue to meet up year on year is remarkable since
members come from places as widely scattered as the Isle of Man, Hitchin,
Bridport, Bournemouth and Woking! It helps that Brockenhurst has a
frequent and fast rail link to Waterloo (about 80 minutes). Being the
local (and somewhat disabled) lad I have made our annual bookings with the
Cloud Hotel who are extremely pleasant and accomodatiing to us each year.
I am sure that our group would warmly welcome any former WCGS pupils of
roughly our own vintage who would be interested to join us. I normally
make exploratory soundings with the hotel in the early months of the year
and we meet late June or early July and usually on a Wednesday. I hope
this information has been of interest to you.
With kind regards,
Eric Letley (WCGS 1947-54)
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