Some of the tributes to teachers and friends on this site have been generous even inspiring, while others have been a salutary reminder that there is a dark underbelly in most institutions, especially those with long and complex histories. So how does one appraise the school one attended in the sixties? One approach is to list both the good and the bad experiences, and reflect on the people with whom one shared those experiences

 

For me, what I value most from those sometimes turbulent even painful schooldays was my friendship with Mike Lalouette that has not wavered in the last fifty years. Initially it was a friendship that grew out of an ongoing and fierce striving for dominance in table tennis- neither of us would concede during hours of unrelenting competition at the table in the Blackmores' quadrangle - but at no stage was a bad word exchanged and every match ended on good terms regardless of outcome. Over the years my initial impression that Mike was someone of absolute integrity and an extraordinary generosity of spirit has been reinforced on countless occasions. As a perpetually broke university student, I was heavily indebted to Mike who insisted on paying for everything. He is always dismissive when I remind him of this. We have often said that our mutual regard is such that, even when we have not chatted for extended periods, when we do, it's as if we had done so the day before. 

 

A bitter-sweet reflection that has been prompted in me and others, I suspect, about the forthcoming celebrations is that, much as I'm looking forward to meeting friends I last engaged with some fifty years ago, this will be the last of these opportunities. However, there is at least one Old Boy, and hopefully others with whom I shall continue to talk - even if only by email. So though the rationalists will argue that there is an absurdity in the view that the place where a friendship started should be given some credit for that friendship, I would simply say, that, when I think about my old School, I inevitably find myself thinking about this and other relationships of inestimable value and influence.

 

John Mason    (April 2016)