Tired but happy?

What will I do this weekend?  After last weekend, rest up for a bit, work was a bit hectic this week or was I just tired? 
Thanks to our organising committee, you all did a great job, as you see by  our smiling faces!  snappy dressers too!
All the best for a very happy year
Lyn Kelly Page

A week has nearly past and at last I have found time to extend my thanks and best wishes to all for a wonderful time. 

Laurie and I were in awe of the organisation of the whole event.  I will hold in my heart the friendliness of everyone! 

Life is for making special memories and the reunion will certainly be one of those. Laurie and I wish you all a happy and safe Easter and look forward to meeting again in the not too distant future. Please do not pass through Tweed Heads without making contact.Kindest regards

Helen (Moebus) Ganter

I hope the committee aren't too flat after the BIG HIGH!

I 

wondered if you had a contact for John Mc Gregor. He provided the keyrings, didn't he?

I would like to thank him for that but couldn't see a contact address etc.

All's well back in paradise, if a little wet, but we did enjoy the weekend so much and appreciate everyone's effort.

Keep well and happy

love 

Adrienne

(For everyone's information, his contact address is:

john@promotionalproducts.com.au)

Oh, what a night, it really was such a night!

Meet and Greet at the Kings home, 

Friday 16th March 2012

The cries of recognition were loud and the smiles were wide even after 50 years. An occasional age line here or there, plus the odd grey hair, couldn't stop the instant recognition.

Who knows, perhaps the name tags helped?

Bill, Sue's brother, felt right at home with everyone, although he attended Canberra High. He was however at Telopea for all his infants and primary schooling and knew most of our brothers and sisters 

Rosey and Jan, two close friends of Sue Upton's, helping out on the night and playing 'waitresses' as part of their Home Economics Work Experience  

Lyn Barlow, a close friend of Sue's, baked and brought her 3 dozen home made sausage rolls to the party. Lyn was a boarder at and school captain of Girls Grammar in 1957, so she thought dressing up was a good idea to prevent any confusion that she attended TPHS!

Well what an amazing reunion weekend!

The photos are now up on the web. Please have a look at http://telopeapark.info.

Scroll down under the 'Actions' box located above a photo you are viewing, click View all sizes, then click  Download the Large size of this photo

Ailsa Grant was unfortunately unable to attend at the last moment. At the reunion dinner Judy passed on some of her memories. Below is the full interesting story:

I appreciate that my small contribution will be probably too late but I have spoken today with Judy Summerhayes and I was so pleased that she used student names, some of which would have changed over the years and which I wouldn't have recognised.

She was kind enough to provide me with an up-date of the dinner program. It all sounds so good and I would really love to be with you all. Perhaps another time. What a wonderful job the committee has done in bringing you all together.

I was sharing some of my memories of Telopea:

·         of Moore House - sorry I don't remember the other house names - I was mistress for a time. Competition was intense as each house conducted money-raising events to raise more money the school culminating in the annual school fair.

·         Moore House conducted a MIss Telopea High School contest and students paid to vote. You are correct if you assume I am not proud of that, however it was a great money-raised and there was even a floral tribute to the winner. Sorry, I don't remember her name but I can see her face quite clearly.

·         Moore House held a Woolshed Dance that year, complete with hay bales donated by students who lived outside the "city". Mr Barbour was MC and played a recording by Acker Bilke of Le Petit Fleur.

·         Sharing a staff room on the end of "the verandah" where I would be "safe" with Yvette Flynn.

·         Umpiring hockey matches on Saturday mornings in winter when every other sport but Rugby Union and Women's Hockey had cancelled their competition due to inclement weather. For inclement read sleet , snow, freezing wind, electric storms. The hockey fields were on the flats behind the old Canberra Hospital, long since under the lake.

·         Selling raffle tickets for only three-pence for half a side of lamb donated by Roger Wotherspoon's family.

·         I really enjoyed singing the school song.  Will you sing it this weekend?  Hope so.

·         Travelling back and forth to school (sometimes without the fare!) on the bus past the Acton and the old hospital and over Lennox Crossing, past the Albert Hall, where the school dances were held, and on past the dignified Hotel Canberra.

There is, and will always be a very special and warm place in my heart for Telopea Park High School, for the students I taught, the staff, the parents, the oval with its trees. Approaching the front door each morning, signing on, walking the parquetry corridors and the view of the oval from the Science Staff Room windows (when I had graduated to the first floor Science Staff room) remain the happiest memories of my teaching life.

I have been brave enough (I am excessively sentimetal) and fortunate enough to revisit Telopea, to walk around the perimeter and to enjoy memories of my time there and I left with a feeling of warmth and a deep appreciation and gratitude for my years there.

A Final note

The hostel in which Rosemary Colman ( Music Teacher) and I lived is long since demolished. A plaque in the park where Floriade is held marks its location.

At Newcastle High in the 70's I taught a student whose father had constructed a garage from remnants of our hostel at their home in Yarralumla. I really liked that connection.

Ailsa Grant

 

The reunion is getting pretty close now and excitement is building, but that does not stop the BIO writers.

Her is one from Pam Hill (now Taylor):

Hi to everyone – I am sorry I am unable to attend the reunion – but I hope that you all have a great time catching up with one another.  It sounds like it will be great fun.

It has been great to read some of your bio’s and catch up with what you have been doing.

I attended Telopea from Kindergarten (Mrs Woods and the big wooden rocking horse I do remember) to the Leaving certificate and I have many fond memories of my time at school. I still have some memorabilia including 2 dresses worn to the 4^th and 5^th year farewell – (an apricot satin number and a mauve net with a silver thread through it) – very interesting after 50 years!

After school I studied at the Tech College and then worked as a Steno-Sec at the Attorney-General’s Department, where I was bonded for 3 years.

After marrying Col, we moved to Sydney where I worked for a short time for Hoover, before having our first son, Andrew, followed by a second son Campbell.   We then moved to Bega for Col’s work and bought a small farmlet at Brogo where we have lived for the past 40 years.   In Bega we had identical twin girls to complete the family.   We have thoroughly enjoyed raising our family and living in Bega.  I worked for a number of years at the Rural Lands Protection Board in Bega.

It has been a privileged place to live and we have enjoyed being involved with our church, and such pursuits as tennis, squash, sailing, rural youth, Brogo Hall committee, and of recent years, the Southern District Exhibit at the Sydney Show.   Col’s hobby of growing tall bearded iris – has taken us each year to the Moruya markets to sell plants during the flowering period. 

We enjoyed a trip overseas in 2006 visiting Thailand, Europe and the UK. The rest of the time we enjoy catching up with our children and grandchildren – Campbell and boys in Moruya – Andrew and Michelle and family (a minister at Gungahlin Anglican Church) in Canberra.  Kirsty and Ari and family (St Judes Anglican Church, Carlton Victoria (Liz, I could have popped into La Mama Theatre to see you!) but now moved to Croydon in Sydney. Fiona and Phil and family (Minister at Campbelltown Baptist) and living at Raby NSW and my mum and dad (who have just celebrated 70 years of marriage) who still live in the same house in Canberra that I grew up in.

 

But can I remember the years after 1958?

Of my high school years, I remember

• some of the 5th year boys in 1958 were as old as, and even taller than, the 'first year out' female teachers (I decided to do Primary teaching instead of Junior Sec because of that)
• sun baking near the bike shed
• wagging school ONCE in my entire time at Telopea to watch Blue Hawaii at the Capitol theatre one Wednesday afternoon
• nearly having a heart attack that same day when someone in the theatre yelled out loudly 'Here comes McPherson!' Run, rabbit, run!
• the man from Coca Cola, standing on the ramp leading to one of the staff rooms, showing the entire outdoor assembly how to use a yo-yo. A truly educational moment!
• filling in the 'Get Out' graph in French lessons
• the Coota trips
• billeting the Coota kids
• Sally reading a book in Chinese
• playing hockey against the boys and losing every game
• playing hockey on the fields near the hospital (under the lake now)
• riding a bike in winter from Narrabundah to Southwell park to play hockey 
• hot milk shakes at Gumleys
• Mrs Hartigan pounding the piano at the school socials
• hating the school socials until we learnt the progressive Mambo
• having my sports uniform length measured to see if it was the maximum length above my knees
• when you could buy a meat pie at the tuckshop (try doing that today!!) 
• Alliance Francaise and Goethe Society competitions in the evenings at Canberra High School
• being in the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' with Adrienne 
• writing in black ink in my German 'Culture Book' and copying Old English from a type face book
• the American boy from the US embassy who had his driver's licence at 15
• listening for the first time to Edna Everage with John Kingley and Richard Jessop
• singing the Ying Tong song with John and Richard (still have the 45 record)
• joining the chess club because a certain boy was also a member
• the Fifth Year farewell social
• someone hiding in the ceiling of one of the rooms and making strange noises
• struggling with trigonometry and calculus in Maths 111 (the combined curriculum of Maths 1 and Maths 11, but studied in half the allocated time)
• realising about 5 years later while coaching a year 12 student that both calculus and trig were really great and a pleasure to study again
• putting 'Magic Silver White' through my blonde hair until it went purple
• being sent home from school to wash the purple out of my hair
• the school fete and the PE displays as part of the fete entertainment (Amazons and Lilliputions?)

We're not the only ones celebrating 50 years ........

In Texas, Wichita Falls High School class of 1962 will celebrate their 50 years in September this year

Have a look at their web page: 

Wichita Falls High School Class Of 1962 - 50th Reunion, Wichita Falls, TX

The history page on the web site contains videos of important events from that year, including the Cuban Missile Crisis

WE HAVE TWO NEW BIOS!

THE FIRST IS FROM LYNETTE PAGE  (now LYN KELLY):

After leaving Telopea at the end of 1961, I went into the Public Service for 18 months, but being cooped up in an office finally got to me. I was reading the Canberra Times, looking for a new job when I came across MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, at Kenmore Hospital near Goulburn. Goodness knows what I was thinking of, because I rang for an interview and they said “just come along and bring your suitcase!” 

Dad had gone out with a nurse from Bloomfield (Orange) and my aunt was a Mental Health Nurse (unknown to me at the time), so he decided to take me down for a formal interview. The Matron there was his old girlfriend from before the war, so my foot was in the door and she kindly looked after me for the next 2 years.

I left to get married in 1965, after a hippy kind of holiday in Cairns, but still married after 46 years. My husband is from Goulburn originally, from a transport business.

The next 12 years were spent having 3 children, moving to Sydney from Goulburn and back before finally moving to Sydney 41 years ago. I always wanted to go back to nursing but with 3 children and a husband away most of the week I just had to wait.

I finally started again aged 32, Psychiatric Nursing it was now known as, and finished in 1980 at Rydalmere Hospital near Parramatta. I nursed out in the community, as it fitted in with school hours, until I decided to do General Nursing before it went into the Universities. So, in 1984 aged 39 I was a student again, this time at Canterbury Hospital. I really enjoyed my time there (2.5 years) before going to the big Westmead Hospital for a year. In early 1987, a couple of former colleagues were nursing in a Crisis Team in Blacktown, in western Sydney. This kind of treatment of the mentally ill in the community was in its infancy, so I stayed for 3.5 years, enjoying the challenge until a new boss came along. I completed a BA (Social Science) along the way, and when I moved to the Inner West (1991) I completed a post graduate diploma in Community Teaching. I thought I might switch to Primary school teaching but the grandkids came along, and they needed more time than I could put into another course.

I have had an interest in politics, but nurses are a funny lot. They want to be in the union, but mainly vote to the right especially if they are from rural areas over the mountains.

We had been thinking about moving closer to the city, and some friends were nursing on a community team in the Glebe/Leichhardt area. So I went to that area,which is connected to RPA, Rozelle and Concord hospitals, and have been here in this area since 1991. We bought a townhouse in Leichhardt in 1994, and apart from the busy times under the flight path it has been a good move for both of us. I have made a lot of friends in nursing, and we all enjoy a hearty social life.

Our 3 children live in Sydney, the boys in the building industry and Sonja is an office manager for Railcorp.

I have deferred retirement as I have 2 grandchildren aged 12 and 14 who need our help, not every day but certainly every week, and what do you do?

We talked about travelling to Europe etc when we were a lot younger, commitments stopped us most of the time, and now we need Business Class!!  We have been to Samoa, New Zealand and Indonesia, most of Australia so we have been lucky.

I have only had one contact with someone from schooldays, Thea Preller for a few days up north in 1989, so I am looking forward to seeing you all next month.

THE SECOND IS FROM
WILLIAM (BILL) WILSON:

 

I took the Leaving Certificate again in 1963.  A very wise move on the part of my parents, because I obviously gained in confidence and undoubtedly grew physically, academically and socially.  Of course I naturally regressed when I encountered the freedoms of university!  I took my B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry at the ANU, played Rugby, but most importantly met my wife Kay Bussell (Elizabeth Cranston’s cousin!); we celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary in January.  Indeed how time flies when you are having fun!

I took a position with the then Department of Supply (later to be absorbed into the Department of Defence) as Defence scientist, and we moved to Melbourne where eventually we bought a home in Greensborough, while I worked at Maribyrnong conducting explosives research.  We had two sons, Scott and Haydn, and I continued to fill in my weekends playing Rugby for Melbourne University.  I also represented Victoria intermittently between 1975 and 1977.

A life-changing experience came for us all in 1981, when I was offered an 18-month Defence Science Fellowship posting to the US Naval Weapons Center at China Lake, in the Californian Mojave Desert.  It was a wonderful experience professionally and socially, and we vastly broadened our experiences.  We took full advantage of the opportunities to discover the US as a nation and Americans as people.  We also discovered that we are essentially small-town people, and specifically desert rats.

We returned to Melbourne and my career in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), but 18 months later I was offered a permanent position at China Lake.  After due consideration we decided to accept this position, as much as anything for the opportunities it might open up for Scott and Haydn in the future.  So we emigrated, and I took up US citizenship with all that entails.  It always struck me as appropriate that the Presidential elections occur on Melbourne Cup Day!

Life was most enjoyable, but certainly different from our previous sojourn as tourists.  We now had commitments to maintain a home, but also to play our part in providing entertainment for our sons in a small town, with involvement Boy Scouts, and travelling soccer and swim teams.  Kay taught mathematics at the local schools (to help fund the boys’ college education), and my physical exercise continued with road racing (including the Boston marathon), climbing in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, mini-triathlons and finally cycling.

In 1997, with Scott and Haydn both through college, I was offered a position at DSTO Edinburgh in South Australia, to regenerate the explosives research programme after it was migrated from Maribyrnong.  So, instead of changing the door-locks when the boys left home, we sold the doors (and the house too) and migrated back to Adelaide.  (Adelaide does not like to hear it, but it is really just a country town, which suits us down to the ground.)  So I took out Australian citizenship, while Scott commenced practice as a lawyer in Chattanooga TN, and Haydn became a winemaker-cum-financial analyst in Napa CA.  Haydn has two sons Julian and Xavier (aka Spot), so there is much demand for frequent travel to the US to visit our grand-children.

So I continue to work while it still keeps me interested, to fund the travel addiction, and to keep Kay in the luxury to which she would like to become accustomed.

IT'S NOT MARCH YET SO THERE IS STILL TIME FOR YOU TO SEND IN THAT BIO AND PHOTO!