The Annual Tower Reunion 2006
The annual Tower Reunion took place on Saturday 14th October at
the Old Bank Pub, St Giles Square, Northampton. There were 92
pupils and 4 teachers who came along, with Dennis Rooke appearing on
both lists. There are links to the full photo gallery and the
list of people who came from the bottom of this page. [If you
were at the reunion and your name is not on the list then please
e-mail me.]
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| David Baker at sports day in 1964 |
This year's event got off to a slightly slow start, with quite a
small number of people there until around 1:30, when the rush
suddenly started. This was a little fortunate, as it gave the barman
time to learn, as he had much less than a few day's experience!
It was less fortunate for those who planned to come and spend a
short time at the reunion before disappearing to see Saints play
Leicester Tigers. Of course, all of the usual suspects were there early, with Nick
Smith arriving before the start as usual, and quite a few of the
class of 63 there within the first few minutes.
This year we had the pleasure of the company of four former
teachers. David Baker had agreed some time ago to come along,
and there were many people who were pleased to see him as he
features in quite a few of the memories in the
Pupil Memories section. He
seemed to enjoy himself and having arrived shortly after we started,
he was still there after 7pm. Ivan Greaves, who started at the
school in 1963 and taught maths and Andrew Saffrey who started at
the school in the 70's and is still working at Unity College today
were there.
Of course Dennis Rooke was there, as he has been to every reunion so
far, but
we have usually treated him as an ex-pupil rather than a teacher, but he
was a teacher in the 70's.
 David
Baker made a speech, which was very well received, and after the
reunion I wrote to thank him. He sent me a letter in reply,
confirming that he had enjoyed the reunion, and had already put the
date of next year's reunion in his diary. [Read
David's letter]
There was a good spread of school years this time, with people there
from 1959 through to 1973, although there was no-one
from 1967. As usual, the "class of 63" had the biggest group,
and even in this group it was great to see several new faces this year.
The 1972/73 crowd was, as usual, also well represented, and of course,
we all sit on the same tables as last year, just like we always do.
Several people from other years were wondering how they could
encourage more to come from their own year, and I am afraid the
answer is always with a lot of hard work. Friends Reunited is
one place to go, but it is actually only a start, as the majority of
people on FR probably already know about this website and the
reunion. Next year (and it looks like there will be another
one next year), I may go back to having volunteers for each year to
try and find people from their own year. They can then start
from the year books and using address databases try to find the
missing people. It is a slow job. However, if we had bigger
groups from each year, then people would have more old-friends to
meet once more. I did this for the first reunion, and so we
still have the benefit of a bigger group of the Class of 63.
At 2pm there was the usual speeches. I had tried this year
to delegate it to others, but concluded on the Friday morning that I had
better write something. This year I concentrated on the fact
that the Class of 63 would all reach the golden age of 60, and that the
class of 73 would all reach 50. For those in the class of 63,
there were a lot of compensations for reaching 60. First they
had already been through the 50 barrier and survived, but as well
there are free bus passes, winter fuel allowance, free prescriptions
and big reductions on trains, ten-pin bowling and a whole host of
other things to look forward to. Of course, "Gunner" got his
usual mention.
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Mike Edmund's Fully
Restored Northampton Corporation Transport Bus
Photo courtesy David Henderson |
This year there was an extra treat. Mike Edmunds owns a
fully restored 1950's Northampton Corporation red bus. It is
beautifully restored and he brought it along to the reunion.
He had prepared it so that it was fully authentic with a few used
tickets scattered on the floor. Over half of the people went
on the trip that Mike did. It started from outside the pub and
went along the old number 14 bus route and then turned down Trinity
Avenue and drove slowly past the old school site, so that people
could see the work going on. It then went up to Five Bells to
turn round and then stopped outside the school for a photo
opportunity on the way back, before returning to the Old Bank.
Bill Rich acted as conductor complete with genuine ticket machine,
although on this trip he was merely giving away tickets as
souvenirs, as no fares were collected! Bill has had past
experience as he had worked on the United Counties buses for a short
time. He even has a safety diploma to prove it [look].
John Child has had an article printed in Bus & Coach Preservation
about this trip [go]
As it left the pub it was a typical school bus, with the top deck
crammed full and a few people on the lower deck. Everyone who
went on the trip thoroughly enjoyed it, and those who stayed behind
watched it leave and several people commented how it actually looked
like a "load of school kids on the top deck of a bus" as it pulled
away. Indeed, several of those who had been on the top deck
confirmed that the atmosphere was just like that. Of course,
in our day you were not allowed to catch the number 14 bus route, as
the extract from the long list of school rules shows below, so there
was an added spice of finally doing something that was not allowed.
Of course, it was not as good as when you did things like riding in
the lift when we still at school and not getting caught, but who
knows there was still the risk that Gunner could come round the
corner and catch everyone on the number 14 now. Martin Verity
took some video of the bus trip, which is available on YouTube.
To view it go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SUaUGwHjs4
 Very
great thanks to Mike Edmunds for bringing his bus along and
providing this excellent nostalgic trip, and for Bill Rich for being
conductor (which even though there was no fares being taken, it is a
legal requirement to have one). Once Mike and Bill had
returned the bus to its garage, they came back to the reunion and
were then able to have their first drink, as legally neither of them
could have a drink before providing the trip. Still, while
they were away, the rest of us had made up for their loss.
Anyone who is a model collector, and would like a corgi model of
this bus, then have a look at
http://www.corgi.co.uk/CorgiSite/Original Omnibus/OM41402.htm
(opens new window)
Pete Chillingsworth looked at the rules opposite and remembered
that he applied to Gunner for permission to come to school on a
motorbike (rule 26), but he was only granted permission to go to
school on it on "wet days". Who wanted to go on a motorbike on
wet days???
Although the start of the reunion had been a little slower than
the previous ones, the end was just the opposite. Normally
there are only a few people left by 8pm, but this year there were
lots of people still there. Once again people seemed to have
enjoyed the reunion, and so there will be another one next year.
The date will be the 13th October 2007.
Next year will be 50 years since our famous Tower and the other
buildings were officially opened. If you think that we should
do something special at the reunion to mark this anniversary, then
please give me your suggestions. One person suggested that we
should rent the Express Lifts Tower and hold it up there, but others
seemed to think that would lack the right atmosphere. Give
some thought to what we might do, and let me have your ideas.
Of course the problem for me now, is that since the bus ride was
such a tremendous success, lots of people asked me what I was going
to do next year to "top that". I don't know! These
were meant to be low-maintenance reunions!
If you have some good photos then please send them to me.
Photos have now been added from Bob Ashby, Peter Austen, Bill Rich
and Martin Verity. If you want to write
about your part of the reunion for your group, or add anything to
what has been said above, please send that to me also.
If you gave me material for the website at the reunion, then with
other commitments it will take me at least couple of weeks to
process it. Please don't worry if you do not get your material
back in the next three weeks, but I will get it on the site and
return the material that you wanted as soon as I can.
Ian
Dow
16th October 2006
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