Hi all!

I’m part of the organising group for our 40th reunion and it’s been a lot of fun so far – chatting to some of you by phone or email, scanning photos and digging out memorabilia, remembering incidents and faces from the old days, and going back 40 years in my memories.

So what have I been doing since 1969? I went to ANU straight after 6th form and studied French, German and Classics for 3 years. I loved Uni and was lucky to be studying at a time when students could concentrate on their studies (and fit in quite a bit of social activity!) and not have to squeeze their studies in between work and other commitments as students nowadays seem to have to do.

I met Pete, my husband, at the end of my first year of uni. After graduating, I did a Dip. Ed. at the new CCAE, doing some of my practice teaching at Watson High. My first year of teaching was also at Watson – talk about deja vu! Mr Cole was Principal, replacing Mr Sweaney, but quite a few of our teachers were still there.

Pete and I married that year too and after the mandatory trip overseas ( to USA and Europe) in 1975, I was posted to Ginninderra High, where I worked for many years. Teaching is such an engrossing profession; the years seemed to go by very quickly and I used to come up for air in the holidays. I had two lovely children during this time (a son and a daughter, now 30 and 25), and moved school twice more, ending up at Erindale College, which is for Year 11 and 12 students. There I taught French and German, then French and English and finally after retraining as a  librarian, I became one of the Teacher Librarians there for the last six years of my teaching career.

While the kids were younger we travelled quite a lot within Australia, seeing as much of the country as we could. We still haven’t crossed the Nullarbor by car yet, though – that remains to be done! More recently we’ve travelled further afield again.

I’m now semi-retired and able to spend more time on some of the things I really enjoy, like travelling, hiking, gardening, reading, delving into the past, taking photos, watching movies and being with family and friends.

I am rather thankful that I grew up in the relatively uncomplicated era of the 1950s and 1960s. Life was simpler then, and our lives were relatively spartan -we walked to and from school and to sporting venues (after riding bikes became “uncool”), and our homes were generally quite small but comfortable. There were a lot fewer distractions than there are now, and we were less exposed to the media. There wasn’t even a TV at my place till I was in sixth form! Most of my memories of school are good ones, except for having to speak at assemblies – yuk! I haven’t made a speech in public since I left!  I’m thankful for my years at Watson High and for all the friends and teachers that made it memorable.