Reminiscence

Over the (many!) years since leaving grammar school I've kept in touch with several old friends and in recent years we've met up annually, usually in one another's homes, for a reunion. This year we were blessed with a beautiful summer day for our get-together in Worcestershire and thoroughly enjoyed catching up on news and views, friends and families, hobbies and holidays. Someone had brought along a "rough book" (which we used to use for classroom working) from our very first term in 1960 and that started a stream of reminiscence.

Driving home afterwards my mind was still full of stories from "back in the day" - times perhaps not appreciated then but recalled with much affection now. School days are fertile ground for writing, of course - witness so many autobiographies, some, like John Betjeman's, in poetic form. A particular instance that I remember well was our "Valedictory", the end of year service to say farewell to leavers, held in the beautiful surroundings of Worcester Cathedral ...

Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester

Valediction

Generations have knelt in these pews before us,
outgrowing blazers, boaters, summer dresses,
an evening sun streaming valediction 
through stained glass, pouring benediction 
on their final days.

Did they too give little ear
to the Dean's earnest exhortation,
little thought to the familiar prayers? 
Were they, like us,
too impatient to leave,
too desperate to live?

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2015)