The Class of 1962: ‘Now We Are Eighty’ Reunion
By Hazel Morgan ( née Grinyer)
Class of 1962

Eleven of us met for lunch on 13 June at the home of Dinah Harris (Priest) looking out at the Surrey Hills. What a treat!

We enjoyed good conversation and delicious food provided by Dinah along with the famous Westcombe cheese from the family farm of Tessa Calver (Dudley) and baklava brought from Athens by Anne Apostolatos (Gabbay).

Joan Fuglesang (Pollard) had flown in from Norway and Lesley Gray and Penny Washbourn had travelled from the United States to join Dinah, Tessa, Sarah Palmer, Janet Tarling, Margaret Houlbrooke (Barsley), Hazel Morgan (Grinyer) Lynn Davies (Elkington), all living in England.

Wimbledon High School had kindly hosted eighteen from our year for a ‘Now We Are Seventy’ reunion in 2014. Ten years on, it was time to celebrate again! In the meantime since November 2020 we have been holding monthly Zoom conversations talking about a range of topics including life experiences, reminiscences, books, favourite buildings, and George Orwell and 1984.

How much better it was to meet face to face once more. We were sad that three of the group, Hilary Page, Gillian Janssen (Bath) and Jeannette Simpson (Cousens) were unable to join us.

In July we returned to Zoom. Sadly Gillian, ‘a pivotal member’ and a ‘dear friend’, had died in hospital since our reunion. We talked about her life and took some comfort from sharing our memories.

Our lives have taken different courses. Nonetheless, from spending our early years together, we have, to quote one of our members, not just ‘a wonderful circle of old friends but also a support group’.