Our reunion started with a visit to the school and a Friday assembly. The new hall and Schroder centre were met with great amazement and pride from the Old Boys since most of them had not seen the improvements that had been made to the buildings.
The dinner on the Saturday evening was an epic event. With much effort from Inge, the dining hall staff, the caterers and the school, the dinner went off without a hitch. Although we did finish after midnight!
Benjamin Semugga did a sterling job as master of ceremonies and ensured the evening was filled with laughter, entertainment and much banter. The speakers were fantastic and provided a great mix of serious urgency regarding our less than ideal economic situation and the unrivaled humour of a certain letter that was read out.
Mr Illsley provided a recon of what has been happening at the school since we were there and gave possibly one of the best speeches we have ever heard and witnessed. He walked back to his table to a standing ovation. Mr Schroder “the Boss” spoke last at about 23:30. He brought the magic back into our hearts that had faded somewhat over the last 10 years and reminded us of the great years we spent as school boys.
I’ d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in a weekend which will take a long time to forget. Here’ s to the next one in 10 years time.
‘ Tis here we learnt to live Kyriacos Floudiotis
CONVENOR
In 2009 I had the privilege of being taught by Mr Keith Mansfield for the fourth time in my high school career. He had taught me in Form I as both my English and French teacher. He then taught me again in my Form IV year and continued to teach me the following year, in matric. On the 23rd of October in 2009 Mr Mansfield circulated two double folios on which he instructed us to write what our plans were for 2010 as well as where we thought we would be in 2019. He then sealed the folios in a white envelope which he entrusted to me. I was to keep it until our Ten Year On reunion and open it at the dinner.
I returned to Solomon House as an Assistant Housemaster after taking up a teaching post at Boys High in 2016 and during the moving process I rediscovered Mr Mansfield’s envelope. I kept it safely stored in my desk until this past Saturday where I had the privilege of opening the letter during my Ten Year On reunion dinner’s proceedings. It was an entertaining exercise as many of my classmates had since changed their minds regarding their careers. I feel honored to have been entrusted with the envelope. I am considering repeating the exercise with my current matric class, I hope one of them will be able to keep the envelope safe until their first reunion dinner in 2029.
Kind Regards,
James Orr
