General News
16 July, 2025
Memories shared at reunion
Last weekend students who began at the Hopetoun High School in 1971 returned to town for a class reunion.
They included those who came and went from the form between 1971 and 1976.
Of the 80 or so possible attendees, around 42 joined in the throng of laughter, hugs and trips down memory lane, with many more sending their apologies.
The weekend began with tea at the pub with name tags attached as many faces had changed somewhat over the years and were not so easily recognized behind the wrinkles, glasses and grey hair!
But it was as though we’d never been apart. Nooshy, Red, Squirta, Bloodnut, Fred, Boomba, Wilf, the nicknames of old gave way to our ‘proper’ names.
We were grown up now! Talking came easily as stories from school days were recounted and embellished.
But something had changed.
There were no longer the cool kids, the naughty kids, the nerds or the pretty ones. We were all okay.
We really had grown up and realized that in the end it didn’t really matter how you looked or if you had money or if you were clever. We were alive and well and there, and that’s what mattered.
Saturday was filled in with a tour of the now secondary college and the old primary school.
What fantastic facilities at the secondary college for the current students.
The high school had changed so much – except for the corridor! There are as many in the whole of Prep to year 12 now as there were in our year! The names of past teachers were recalled – some with admiration and respect and others not so much…..
The members of the Historical Society opened the old primary school for us and what a blast from the past it was. The rooms seemed so much smaller and the ceilings so much closer!
The old ink cupboard in Mrs Siepolt’s grade 4 room was still there but the shelter shed, our grade 2 room, the art room and bike shed had all dissolved over time.
Each room brought a new lot of stories from our past. It was very opportune that the districts school display was still there so students from Patchewollock and St. Joseph’s could see old photos and records of their primary school days also.
If Barb and Jenn had not told us to leave I’m pretty sure some of us would have been there ‘til dark!
Saturday evening found the mob down at the Stick Shed at the lake. Catering was provided by ‘The Juke’ from Sealake. Delicious food to accompany a ‘ few drinks’ made for a great evening.
The cake, made and decorated by Gwen, really was the icing on the cake! What a talent! Mrs. McClounan, our Home Economics teacher, would have been most impressed!
The nine classmates who have passed away were acknowledged and brief information about those who were unable to attend was shared.
Most attendees turned up for an egg and bacon breakfast at the lake on Sunday morning.
Fond farewells and promises to keep in touch were made.
A decision to hold another reunion in 5 years time will see us meet again.
We are spread far and wide across the country, but we still call Hopetoun ‘home’.
