Over the weekend of 7-9 May, the third form (Year 9) students of 1970 came together for their 51 year on school reunion.

Some of those attending had travelled from Australia, America and from different regions of New Zealand.

The weekend began with drinks and nibbles at the Elms Quality Hotel on Friday evening. Many of these men hadn’t seen each other since they left school in 1974. The laughter soon started as the stories started to come out of their time at St Bede’s.

Saturday’s events started with a tour of the College led by Father Allan, who gave updates of the grounds, the new buildings and the changes that had been made due to the earthquake. Following the school tour, a group photo was taken and then lunch was held in the new Performing Arts Centre which was completed in 2019.

While everyone enjoyed a marvellous lunch, they were also entertained by their own classmates Mark Gregory and Barry Gallen who were part of the band Spirit back in their schooldays. After the lunch and concert, there were more laughs as stories aided by a slide show of photos from this cohort’s time at school were shown.

Later in the afternoon, many enjoyed watching the boys of this year’s 1st XV Rugby team play against Shirley Boys. Saturday’s celebrations were concluded with dinner back at the Elms where many partners also attended. The room was once again filled with laughter from memories of times experienced and shared at St Bede’s.

Sunday morning saw a Chapel service and then the weekend was concluded, a weekend where old friends came together, memories came to the fore and laughter rang out loud and clear.