Keeping in Touch with your School Friends.

Hi Everyone!  with the Reunion for 2010 now well and truly over remember to keep in contact with your old school friends that you were re-united with on the 5th June 2010.

As we are not getting any younger our friends from our school days were some of our true friends through and after we left school.  The friendships that we made back then are and should be some of the best friendships we ever had, as they were everylasting.

Remember to hold onto your friends life is short.

OUR LESLEY IS OFF TO SEE THE WORLD.

Our intrepid hard working Committee member Lesley is taking a well earned rest or is it a rest but an adventure of a lifetime.
Lesley is off to the Borneo area to have fun and compete at the Inter Hash carnival, plus also see the sites and relax.

We wish you good luck and a safe journey to far off lands Lesley. We look forward to the  many stories and great photos.

Lesley has kindly placed a link on our blogsite so that we may follow her journey around Borneo. Thank you for that.

                                            "BON VOYAGE"     HAPPY HOLIDAYS LESLEY.!


P.S.  If you have any photos from the reunion that you would like to share with us you still have time to do so. either by emailing them to maywestreunion@live.com or emailing to one of the committee on our personal email addresses.

WE MADE THE HEADLINES IN SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

PHOTOS TO VIEW

Hi everyone,
I have created an account on  Flickr to view photos from the weekend. When you open the email that I have sent to you it is an invite to join the account - this means only those who are members can upload or view the photos. In this way the photos are just for our reunion people to view.

When you go to the site without joining up you will see a message that tells you there is nothing for you to see.

If you prefer not to join and have photos to upload they can be sent through to our live email site and we can do it for you.  maywestreunion@live.com

Thanks again for a great weekend.
Lesley

REUNION NIGHT - THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.

The Cake and oh what a cake!                                   5B/6B Class of 1963   

    

5A Classes of 1963

Howard Edwards, Carolyn White

& Bob Lightfoot cutting the Reunion Cake

       

                                                   

                                                                    6A classes of 1963

HAPPY SCHOOL REUNION. 5TH JUNE.

The 5th June is finally here.  Our school friends from 1963 are arriving or have arrived. Tonight let us celebrate the re-kindling of old friendships that have been lost down our path of life. Let us remember with fondness those friends who have gone before us.  Our teachers who were the backbone to where we stand today. But overall, let us once again enjoy if only for a short time our days as students at our old school.

See you all tonight.

MEMORIES OF DAYS GONE BY.

2 weeks to go,  to scrub up and groom
My God you look hot, the ladies will swoon
Comb-overs are in, and eyebrows are mowed
Nose hairs all jelled and neatly in rows.

Magnum PI springs quickly to mind
I mean in the looks and not on the vine
With body all tuned and neat as can be
I think of the thousands who want to be me.

Where is that outfit that brought me such luck?
A dance at the Palais, then home for a 'coffee'
I tuck into bed exhausted and sore
You showed them my lad as you covered the floor

With body shirt all sweaty, and flairs all a flap
My platforms a flashing with a rhythm in tap
What did, Fred and Ginger have above me
As I spun and I twirled with abandoning glee

I got to admit, I was quite a lair
Back in the days when we all had that hair
With shirts firm and tight and pants up so high
To hang left or hang right was easy to spy

The girls were all willing and eager to please
I mean on the dance floor and not on my knees
I danced with them all, not one did I miss
Then went home alone with barely a kiss

Because I was a young lark with hardly a dime
I didn't have transport to polish or shine
So, many a girl would kick up a fuss
When I told her goodbye to catch the last bus

Ah, those were the days, life was so good
No PCs or iPods to damage the mood
We filled up the days and made our own fun
Then went home all tired and dinner with Mum

I stand and I stare at the image I see
And what I do see looks a picture of me
I don't see the scars or winkles I wear
The pains from the past I choose not to care

'Cause the life I do lead, I made as I see
And the blessings I have are all around me
The laughter of family and love from my friends
Give me life meaning that never will end.


By Bob McAlpine  5B/6B  '63'

Less than 3 weeks to go!!

As these last few weeks turn into days and the last few days turn into hours, let us bring forth our biggest smiles as we look forward to seeing our old school friends again after all these years.

Some of the friendships have been life long.  For some it will be almost 20 years since they have seen each other and for others it will be 46-47 years since they have seen each other.

Let us make merry on this occasion.  Further, let us share stories of what we have done and where we have been since '63.  Let us re-kindle our friendships of old, friendships that have been lost somewhere along our journey in life and hold onto them forever, never to lose them or to lose contact again.

We sincerely look forward to seeing everyone again on the 5th June at Chatrlestown Bowling Club at 6:00pm!

The Committee.

SOME TRIVIA TO DO WITH OUR SPORT HOUSES.

Some trivia for everyone about the sport house teams at Mayfield West Public School.

Prior to the middle of 1961 there were  actually 8 sports houses; 4 girls teams and 4 boys teams. Yes it is true and some of you may remember, but for others your memories may not be so good!

The girls' houses were named after the Australian Wild Flowers: WARATAH (Red), WATTLE (Yellow), GUM BLOSSOM (Green) and BORONIA (Blue).

The boys' houses were named after Lord Mayors of Waratah and Newcastle: GRIFFITH (Red), WEBB (Yellow), MILLAR (Green) and PURDUE (Blue).

The logisitics of 8 sport houses marching around the quadrangle on a Monday at assembly, and the work involved in organising/maintaining 8 houses was proving to be a difficult job and it was proposed that the number of houses be reduced to 4.  It was decided that a democratic vote would take place to determine if reducing the number of houses was the best option to solve this logistical nightmare.

With the vote confirming the houses should be reduced in number, the next obstacle was to decide in which manner the pupils would be placed for the march.  It could not be decided whether the boys should march up front and the girls behind or vice versa.  Remember, this was prior to affirmative action and the recognition of the equality of genders, and it was still very much a male dominated society.  It was finally decided to have 2 columns of girls and 2 columns of boys marching side by side... the tallest up the front, the shortest to the back.  Perhaps this was a first step towards equality!

The most important thing however, was how the houses performed when it came to the sports carnivals.  It was always the team with the highest point score that was the winner and we all wanted it to be our team. Combined sports teams were more fun and it was more exciting to compete against everyone rather than with either just the boys or just the girls. At the end of the day we all wanted to be the ones cheering for how well we had done, for all of the hard work of practising and finally in competing.

To this day the same houses still exist at Mayfield West Demonstration School and this is a credit to the school that they have maintained this important piece of our school history.

Postscript:   Some quick history... Miller, Webb and Griffiths were named after the Mayors of Waratah and Purdue was named after the long serving Lord Mayor of Newcastle.  Griffiths was the the longest serving Mayor on record in Newcastle, serving 7 terms as mayor of Waratah, prior to becoming the 1st Lord Mayor of the Greater Newcastle Council in 1938.  Purdue was first elected to office in 1951 and served 3 terms in office as Lord Mayor of Newcastle.

School Reunion Announcements in the Media.

          

    

 I just wanted to let everyone know to keep your eyes and ears peeled to the media in the next month

Announcements of the Mayfield West Public School 2010 Reunion have been placed on the following:

• Community Notice Boards (CNB's) for the three local TV channels

• Community Switchboard Announcements for the radio stations 

 These announcements have also been listed on the TV & Radio station websites and an announcement has been sent to the paper media.

We hope that you will get a buzz out of this...  Lesley and I will keep you posted so please check the blog for regular updates.