A dedicated group of Parkes ex-students has just pulled off a wonderful, perfectly planned High School Reunion helped by social media.
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Philippa O'Donnell (Dwyer), Julie Davis (Woodcock), Andrew and Annette Holman, Janet O'Donoghue (Smith) and Karen Somers (Schultz) were the main organisers of this event.
Many others helped by contacting friends near and far.
Facebook pages helped us to round up as many as we could.
Even Google helped us find some classmates.
Conference calls via Skype to Robyn Agnello (Ellis) in Perth, and Diane O'Shea and Carole Smith (Dunford) in Queensland were made to discuss arrangements for the reunion.
Of course, the old-fashioned form of "word of mouth" to contact people was employed too.
This is the class that began Parkes High School in 1969, the year that ‘man first walked on the moon.’
Ex-student Andrew Holman recalled how students were gathered in the Science Block Quadrangle to see images beamed from the moon on a conventional sized TV of the time!
The October long weekend was chosen as the date.
Activities were relaxed and started on Saturday with a tour of Parkes High School and its excellent facilities by Annette Holman.
A welcome from Principal Sandra Carter started us off and amazingly many of us recognized each other with out the need for name tags!
It has been 40 or so years, so that was a buzz.
Memorabilia in the library was examined thoughtfully, although it would be excellent if we could gather more from ex-students to be preserved.
Lunch was at the Dish, the famous Radio Telescope and we had forgotten how big it is!
Everyone mixed and old social groups blended to make one excited happy unit.
Many photos were taken with our iconic Dish.
The dinner in the evening at the Ikon, Gracelands, was again informal and an excuse to act like school kids again!
We paused to remember those whom we have sadly lost.
Their stories were shared and will not be forgotten.
Quite a few of us left at Fourth Form, or for other reasons, didn't finish our schooling at Parkes but we still keep a special place in our hearts for Parkes High School.
Our reunions are not a competition to see who has done the best in life, rather a meeting of past school mates where we share our stories, both good and bad and celebrate just having survived to meet again.
A display of memorabilia, prepared by Philippa O'Donnell was examined and many more photos taken.
A total of 50 people, including partners, were able to attend.
The large number is a measure of the group and individual friendships.
Absent friends like Beverley Lanzarini (Drabsch) in Italy, Tommy Emmanuel in the US, Robyn Agnello (Ellis) and Chris Wilson sent updates.
Ex-students came from Queensland, Canberra, Sydney, Camden, Broken Hill and many other scattered places.
A rousing rendition of the School Song was sung and many were amazed that they could remember it.
The school war cry was bit shaky though.
Brunch on Sunday morning, again at Gracelands saw us reluctant to leave, but grateful for the time we had.
The organising committee would like to thank:
Principal Sandra Carter and Annette Holman from the High School, Orla Middleton from the Ikon, Gracelands, and Craig Smith from The Dish Cafe.
We have resolved to meet again before 10 years are up just in case we don't make it.
Now to get the school song out of our heads.
"At Parkes High School there is no student who'll forget or regret the friends we met or the ideals set...."