We’re off to Devon tomorrow on a rare trip into the past.  It’s the 50th anniversary of when I started grammar school with 59 other boys and we’re having a reunion weekend with a slap-up meal to celebrate.  Trouble is, I hardly know any of the other boys .....

I was only at Barnstaple Boys’ Grammar School for two years before the family moved south to the big city, Exeter, Devon’s county town.  Actually it’s not a big city at all, but it seemed so back in the 60s.  As a result, I’ve not seen most of them for 48 years!

Will we recognise each other? I was skinny with NHS specs and short trousers when last they saw me!  In the intervening four decades or more I think I’ve seen two of them, Trevor and Geoff, both in Summer 2008, a couple of years after they’d tracked me down, living in the wilds of North Wales.

I’ve also spoken on the phone to Chris and Norman, but that’s about it. 

There are a couple of former teachers attending the dinner, but they must be pretty old, as we’re all 60 going on 61!

The ‘do’ is being held at the Saunton Sands Hotel on the north Devon coast, preceded by drinks in Barnstaple and a tour of the school.

I’m looking forward to my trip down a Devon Memory Lane and Frau W is looking forward to her first ever visit to the South West of England.  Hope the weather’s nice!

© Paul Whitelock

Tags: Barnstaple Boys’ Grammar School, reunion, Barnstaple, Exeter, Devon, Saunton Sands Hotel, Memory Lane, paul whitelock, www.a1-solutions-spain.com