I hope you all have had an enjoyable dinner and a chance to reunite with old friends. There will be plenty of time to mingle and continue meeting after the speeches.
I would like to thank my fellow committee members and the staff of the hotel for helping make this a memorable occasion for our Association’s 50th anniversary.
Thanks to all of you who have been able to attend this weekend and particularly those who have travelled long distances; the furthest from Australia. We have had several messages from members who could not get here this year and who send their good wishes.
There are 71 members of our Association here tonight, a fact of which we should be justly proud. There cannot be many reunions for a school that closed down 34 years ago, after running for only 23 years and which had just over 900 pupils in it’s whole existence, which still has regular well attended annual gatherings. It shows how important the school was in our lives.
It is a pleasure to have Roger and Isabel’s three children here on this special occasion. I am informed by the membership secretary that, in his own words, with all three siblings here, this is the first time in about twenty years that our Pott has been full!! Perhaps Simon, Andrew and Caroline would stand up and take a bow on their own behalf and on behalf of their parents.
As for past staff, we have two representatives, both former pupils, Cliff Wallington and Mukhlis Oweis. Would they please stand and take a bow.
With us tonight is one of the first pupils, John Remmington, Number 4 in the register, a pupil from 1946 to 1951 and I believe, the last, Debbie Owens, number 911, from 1965 to 1969. Perhaps they will both stand up and take a special bow.
Tomorrow we have a special Eucharist lead by David Ratcliff, assisted by Paul Atkins, Jonathan Russell, Roger Wikeley and David Winter, now known as Father Alban. Ben Gunner will be playing the organ. In advance, I would like to thank them all for agreeing to take their part in this service. On behalf of the Association, I will officially be presenting to St. Michael’s Church a kneeler embroidered with the Mitre, the name of the school and its dates. In addition, David Winter has brought all the way from Australian a picture of the school mitre with animals around it painted by an aboriginal friend. The artist thought it showed the true spirit of an Old Michaelian.
I hope that many of you will come and attend this special service. An ad-hoc choir of anyone who would like to sing a simple anthem are asked to meet in Ingoldisthorpe church at 10.00 o’clock tomorrow morning for a short practice. If you intend to sing, please let Ben know this evening so he can have some idea of numbers.
Let’s hope that we do not get a repeat of last year’s weather!
Enough from me! I will now hand over to our President, Simon, who will call upon our after dinner speakers and try to control them in the true Pott manner!