Canberra Alumni Reunion
Posted on November 14, 2022
The Friends’ School Alumni Reunion, Canberra, 25 September 2022
By Elizabeth Field (nee Murphy) 1966 leaver
On Saturday, 24 September, I set off for the drive to Canberra, through intermittent rain showers, arriving early afternoon. Former Hobart Quaker, Susan Rockcliff had kindly offered accommodation so that I did not need to set off at the crack of dawn on Sunday.
The celebration began at 10.30 for some of us as we had been invited to attend Meeting for Worship then. It was good to catch up with old F/friends there before heading off to the lunch venue, only 10 minutes walk from the meeting House. The guest list was not very large, but included old scholars from a span of more than 60 years. The head boy of 2021, Riley Curtain was there, as was the head girl of 1961, Beth Kelly (now Barber) There were at least three leavers from the 50s as well!
I found myself seated next to Alison Boothroyd (now Hutchison) who had been in my brother David’s cohort, so there were many old scholars known to both of us to reminisce about. It being a small world we live in, Alison and her family had been neighbours of the man who became my second husband!
Ruth Megirian was one of a family I had known at Friends Meeting in Hobart in the sixties. I had even taken a children’s Sunday group containing her two brothers, Rene and Dirk, back then! So we too, had common ground other than having attended Friends.
So, while there was no one there from my cohort, I found many people to have enjoyable chats with over a delightful lunch. I heard of so many varied pathways taken by old scholars in their post-school lives.
It is always a pleasure to meet with Nelson and Lisa, and with Julian Robertson, another former Hobartian! I had intended to go to the later “drinks and nibbles’ event later in the day, but opted to leave beforehand so that I could drive for most of the four hours it takes to get back to the Blue Mountains in daylight. I look forward to the 50 year plus gathering in February next year in Hobart.
