Made it! in Scottish Meanderings

I made the reunion!

Not only did I manage the 3 hour drive up there (although had to have a lie down before I could get ready to go out) but I managed to stay out until half past 12 which was amazing! It was a fantastic night and I was really pleased I was able to get there and enjoy it. I didn’t get off to sleep afterwards until past 3 a.m. so was pretty tired next day but I was still able to pop over to my sister’s before I drove home and have a ‘quick cuppa’ which turned into a 3 hour yap! So was chuffed at that too.

It was funny the memories we were coming out with though - I was fascinated with the fact that 3 separate people came up to me and said they remembered the birthday parties I used to have - I think because Dad was a baker I must have had more goodies than the average party or something!

In those days parties were generally held in your house with games like pin the donkey, pass the parcel, Postman’s Knock and suchlike organised by your mum and there were no party bags on leaving or at least there were but all you got in it was a piece of birthday cake - none of the masses of crap they get nowadays!

Quite pertinent when Nikki is completely stressing at the moment about what to do for Lily’s party next month. Because she started off with big lavish parties right from the get go, Lily of course has come to expect a huge deal each birthday which isn’t her fault in the slightest. I told Nikki she would make a rod for her back doing that at the time.

And it's quite interesting that she's seeing the ‘party at home’ idea as being a last resort and she would rather contemplate paying £15/£20 per child (and usually a minimum of 10 kids needed) for some ‘experience’ making chocolate stuff and a tea or playing in an inflatable play area or the like. Crazy!

It was so lovely catching up with folk from school - I've noticed people either seem to love or hate reunions - there seems to be no in between - I wonder if it makes a difference if your time at school was half decent or not? I thoroughly enjoyed my schooldays but there’s also the fact that for me it’s another link with home which will always be Inverness in my mind even though I’ve now been in Aberdeen longer than I was in Inverness! And it’s not as if I’ve particularly kept in touch with anyone from school over the years apart from one or two folk but that link is somehow still strong whenever I meet anyone from there.

We were also very lucky to be schooled in a beautiful old building with lots of history attached to it which was situated at the top of a brae (hill), at the bottom of which was Dad's shop.

This is a pic of the shop when my great-uncle established it in the 1920s.


I thought I had a more up to date photo when Dad had it but think I must only have it in actual photo form rather than online and as I don't have my scanner any more I can't transfer it to the pc. The shop itself actually hardly changed over the years - it was only really the surroundings which did. It's now a café/restaurant and apart from the fact it's had an obvious facelift and they've bought over the adjoining shops (where the old fruiterer/florist used to be) and knocked through to add more space, the main part of it is very similar.


With it being at the bottom of the brae, it was the first port of call for teachers and pupils alike at lunchtime and after school and Dad was probably solely responsible for many an overweight child and a slew of diets going astray - especially as he was the first baker in Inverness to introduce fresh cream cakes to its citizens! But it meant that I was always connected to the business especially as I worked there after school and on Saturdays so even if folk didn't recognise me from school, the name Skinner conjured up lovely memories of potato pies and cream buns!

We lived just round the corner from the school - my primary school (which many of the Academy kids had also gone to) was about 100 yards to the right at the bottom of my road and the Academy 100 yards to the left so I literally didn't have to get up until about quarter to 9 most mornings!

That wasn't as bad as my sister though - she had school mornings down to a fine art - she would wait until the first bell rang at 5 to 9 (we could hear it from the house), roll out of bed, slap on the makeup, get dressed and be out the door as the second bell was ringing at 9 o'clock with Mum's desperate pleas to eat some breakfast and 'pull that skirt down' ringing in her ears!

A hard act to follow!

So it's not just my class which forges a link - the school and the whole area around it is steeped in memories for me as well and always will be. The building itself was also steeped in history - it dated back to 1792 and was built to replace a grammar school in the town which had grown too small. It looks rather austere here below but it was beautiful inside and not long after we left, a new state of the art Academy was built across town and 'our' Academy went on to be used as part of Inverness College so we felt privileged to be part of its history. You can see the bell which was better than any alarm we had in the morning!


At the reunion we had a rolling slideshow going in one of the rooms and it was only when I sat and watched it that I was reminded just how many folk were missing. Obviously there were those who just couldn't make it but sadly, we've reached that age now when absent friends don’t always mean people can’t come because of other commitments - they’re just not with us any more. And of course there are fewer and fewer teachers around - I think there were only 5 on Saturday compared to a good dozen at our first reunion - although I was delighted that one of them was there because I’ve long since wanted to tell him how much I appreciated him as a teacher. I used to see him occasionally after I left school when Mum went to indoor bowling as he was a member there but I was always too shy to approach him.

Seeing him on Saturday night I realised I might not get the opportunity again so after we’d got the group photo taken, I went up and told him what a brilliant teacher he’d been and how much he had transformed Maths and Arithmetic for me. He had this complete knack of knowing exactly when someone hadn’t picked up some explanation he’d given to the class so he would set us some exercises then come round everyone individually - every single pupil - and help those who needed it in a quiet, patient manner. Not once did he ever humiliate anyone or show anyone up for not knowing something and every effort, no matter how small, was encouraged and praised. Sadly I come from an era of education where it’s not possible to say that about some of the other teachers.

He was absolutely delighted that I’d spoken to him and instantly remembered our whole family much to my surprise - I wasn’t sure if he’d taught the others but he reeled off all the names to me as though he’d just been explaining logarithms to them yesterday! I was dead impressed. Lovely, lovely man.

Here we all are ageing well for the most part! The space we had for the group photo was unfortunately too small so we had to do it in bits so this is about three-quarters of us - we tried doing a panorama but couldn't keep everyone still for long enough!


And here my lovely Maths teacher, Mr. Wilson, very much ageing well!


We had a delicious cake made which one of the teachers cut for us.


The initials of the name of the school often got us in trouble at that time - as you can see, its full name was Inverness Royal Academy which produced IRA. Given that the troubles in Ireland were very much in the forefront at that time, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) could mean something entirely different in the seventies and often needed a bit of explaining!

This is Charlie - he turns up to every reunion in his original school uniform (although he ditches the shorts now I notice!), very proud of the fact that he (a) still has it and (b) still fits into that blazer!


One of the other highlights of the night was when I was talking to one of the boys (well men!) and he asked me if I’d seen a photo taken at my kindergarten (similar to pre-school) which appeared in one of the ‘Inverness Remembered’ books which are a series of books done by the local newspapers - the Inverness Courier and Press & Journal. I’ve already had the surreal experience of standing in Waterstone’s one day leafing through one of the series and coming across a picture of myself holding a placard marching down the main street on a protest for more teachers' pay! I nearly dropped the book and was dying to grab the nearest customer and say "Look! That's ME! I'm in a BOOK!" :)

I was delighted with this one though because as far as I know there were no other pics taken of kindergarten - cameras weren't so readily in existence in 1962 and if they were, you wouldn't dream of carrying one round with you unless you were on holiday or a professional! This one was presumably taken because Santa was coming to our yearly Christmas concert but there are kids I went to school with in that photo whom I'd no idea I'd also been in kindergarten with! Tiny though it is, I think it's obvious which one is me (the grey hair was dark in those days). :)


This was the third reunion we've had but we've decided not to wait another 10 years until the next one seeing as how we're all getting on a bit so we're having another one in 5 years' time. And the 4 stalwarts who organised it enjoyed it so much that they're going to carry on meeting at the Hotel once a month for get togethers. They'll post the dates on Facebook and if anyone's around they can just turn up. Also if anyone's coming up to Inverness at any time and fancies meeting up with folk from school, if they want they can also stick a message on our Facebook page so that anyone in the area can go along.

So a success.

Unfortunately, since then, I've been ill the whole week which has tarnished the experience somewhat. I've missed table tennis, missed the writing group, missed Lily's swimming class, missed babysitting Lilah while Nikki had to take Lily up to A&E on Thursday (she'd decided to see what it felt like to run her fingers across the top of a disposable razor!!) (Just needed a dressing though and she's fine now). I did feel slightly better on Friday so thought I'd turned a corner but yesterday I felt lousy and exhausted again. However I was able to go to a friend's barbecue at a local beach in the afternoon so I was pleased just to get out.

And the night away seems to have had rather a dramatic effect on Bailey.

Normally I shut both him and Snarf in downstairs overnight but I haven't been away for ages so I thought it might be a bit stressful for them especially as I had a catsitter coming in that I hadn't used before so decided just to give them the run of the house at night and when I came home I found a Bailey-shaped cigar on my bed which I thought was incredibly cute! Almost like I don't know where she is but I know where she spends most of her time so I'll just curl up there! (It wasn't Snarf because they are two very different colours and the hairs on my sheet told their own story).


He hasn't been on my bed for years far less IN it and I've never known if it's because he doesn't want to or because he felt pushed out by the other two. Well since that night, he hasn't been off it! I don't know what's gone on in his wee peabrain but I'm just happy this is the result.

So what's been your experiences of school reunions? Good or bad? Love 'em or hate 'em? Wouldn't go to one for love nor money?