The June long weekend was a perfect opportunity for the reunion of former Narrabri High School students from the class of 1967-1972.
Fifty five former students, their guests and three teachers attended the reunion which, in the words of organiser Cheryl Pawley, “exceeded every expectation you could imagine”.
The weekend began with an early bird gathering at the Golfie on Friday night.
On Saturday morning Cheryl and her helpers set up the Bowling Club auditorium for the evening’s festivities.
Memorabilia was on display with uniforms, photos and year books. A PowerPoint presentation of photos from the time, took attendees down memory lane.
Janice Cunningham (now Smith) made and cut the cake while the guests sang the school song, the words of which were on the place mats, along with the high school crest.
Graham Rooney acknowledged those classmates who had passed away.
Cheryl had a long list of apologies, many of whom had also sent messages which Cheryl has collated and called “Life After Narrabri High School”.
Some of the former students were meeting for the first time in more than 50 years, a half a century, and had a lot of catching up to do.
After the dinner and formalities, the attendees danced to music from the era, all having a wonderful time.
On Sunday morning about 30 people met for breakfast in the Riverside Room at The Crossing Theatre after which the group was given a tour of the high school by teachers Annie Atkinson, Dianne Magann (also former student) and Josh Wright, son of Stephen Wright from the same class.
“Narrabri High was fantastic in helping us,” said Cheryl.
When the class started high school the principal was Betty Berriman and this was her first, first form (as it was then called – now Year 7) class.
The esteemed principal had a special rapport with the students and had a real impact on the class she saw through to its sitting the HSC.
At that time there were five classes in the form and, as was the way then, most left school after fourth form and undertaking the School Certificate.
Thirty three students went on to complete the HSC.
“Miss Berriman set the bar high and had a profound impact on us all,” Cheryl said.
“Miss Berriman’s standards have stayed with us and we are very grateful for the education we had at Narrabri High – it’s that elastic band effect that keeps us coming back.”
Many travelled long distances to attend, from Adelaide, Brisbane, the Central Coast, Orange and the south coast and all agreed, whether from down the road or far away that they would have to do it all again – maybe in five years’ time when they would be turning 75.
Please note some maiden names have been used in the captions for the female students.
