Contents The Gallery Past Reunions Melbourne 2008

   

From Mike Herring:

On the evening of 22nd October 2008, 25 people sat down to dinner at the Hotel Windsor on Spring Street, Melbourne. Their common link was a connection with Wymondham College, Norfolk, England. 

Earlier rugby tours by Old Boys of the College had seen mini-reunions in several Australian cities and there seemed to be a desire by Old Wymondhamians to occasionally get together.  The Melbourne dinner, the first official meeting of the Old Wymondhamians in the Southern hemisphere, was the result. 

Melvyn Roffe, the College Principal, was in the Far East for College and other business purposes, so the opportunity was taken to call the meeting in Melbourne during that trip. Mike Herring (current chairman of OW’s and of dual Aus/UK citizenship) used the opportunity for a holiday and chance to catch up with old friends.  Besides the visitors from the UK, other guests had travelled from Perth, Brisbane and New Zealand for the function.

Joan Thomson’s choice of The Hotel Windsor (Melbourne’s oldest grand hotel (1881)) proved to be an excellent one with a fine room for the dinner and good service from the staff.  An excellent evening was had by all, and despite the fact that few of the people had actually been at the College at the same time, the conversation never faltered. This may in part be due to the excellent Australian wines on offer that evening! Melvyn gave a brief talk on the changes to the college since its inception and a series of slides ran continuously showing modern and old views of the buildings and people.

In conclusion - a highly successful and thoroughly enjoyable evening with a general desire to take the idea of an Aus/NZ Chapter of the Old Wymondhamians further.

From Joan Thomson (Woodbridge):

The Melbourne reunion on 22nd October with Melvyn and his lovely wife Catherine and of course Mike and Jane seemed to be very successful, I know I enjoyed myself and everyone else appeared to as well, it was a super evening.  As well as Melvyn and Mike flying in from the UK Ex students from years 1951 to the mid 1970s and flew in from as far as New Zealand,  Collie which is a small town two hours south of Perth in Western Australia and Adelaide in South Australia. I of course flew down from Brisbane.   I have forwarded photos to Melvyn and to Jackie Glenn and I expect that they will pass them on to you for publishing on the web site.

1. Catherine & Melvyn Roffe, Mike & Jane Herring, Joan Thomson.
2. Keith Skipper, Ken Bowhill, Joan Thomson, Dawn Bowhill (Jessop).
3.  Clive and Judy Lancaster with Kim Chambers and fiancé Joe.
4. Jane Herring, Barry Westburg (Julia Nichols' partner), Mike Herring, Roger Goodwin.
5. Melvyn speaking to Bev Knowles (Roger Goodwin’s wife) and in rust is Julia Nichols with Barry and with her back to the camera is Heather Bligh.
6.  Julia Nichols, David Bligh, Barry Westburg and Heather Bligh.
7. John Duffy and wife Maureen with Joan Thomson.  Keith Skipper in the background.
8. .... Joan Thomson, Keith Skipper, John Duffy, David Bligh with back to the camera, Barry Westburg. Paul Davis speaking to Catherine Roffe.
9. Jane Herring and Heather Bligh.
10.  Joe, Melvyn, Catherine, Keith, Lyn and Denyse Skipper, and Dawn.
11.  David, John, Maureen, Clive, Judy, and of course Mike.
12.  Maureen, Clive, Judy and in the background Julia, Paul & Joan.
13.  The Skipper family.
14.  Julia, Barry, Roger, Melvyn, Catherine, Joan, Paul and Dennis Thomas (1951).
15.  Dawn, Ken, Kim, Joe, Mike, Jane, Joan, Keith, Lyn and Denyse Skipper at the rear.
16.  Joan, Clive, Judy, Heather, John, Maureen and David.


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Wymondham College Remembered