Not so much of a reunion as there were only me & Stu there.

But it was good fun moseying about the old place, and there was free lunch and tea. ( No breakfast though. ) Jane Gunner took us on a guided tour: we couldn't get access to everywhere we wanted to see, e.g. the studies or the labs. There seems to be relatively little video online so I took a few clips of the some of the bits you might recognise. I haven't quite got the knack of filming yet, especially keeping the camera upright, & the resolution is worse than the DVD I transferred it from. If anyone has any higher quality stuff it would be good to see it.

Park House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRABdugEFls Inside main building: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=a7HWsU4B17Q&feature=channel&list=UL Up Top: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=fQFtktwYLtU&feature=channel&list=UL Stable Block: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLqGemjh4bQ Little Hell: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=loUu74f5xBY&feature=channel&list=UL Approach to College: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=PATmUKjXQog&feature=channel&list=UL The Bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1HLDHu720&feature=channel&list=UL Old Rectory: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=9mdVDsYLjh8&feature=channel&list=UL

In Park House the girls' end has swapped with the boys' because of the relative numbers. There's a new kitchen in the common room, opening out into where DSJP's garage used to be. Apparently it's because the old cooking areas were becoming unpopular because of the constant odour of burnt toast. ( Remember it well. ) Jane told us that the school has to be v. flexible about buildings these days as the usage changes from year to year. They built a lot of boarding houses in the 80s & 90s , but then the trend changed towards normal, "day" education & now it's only 25% boarders. ( Though as there's about 500 pupils now that's probably about the same number as in our time, but spread around over more houses. ) The strategy now is to put up shells of buildings & partition them as needed as it saves on the cost of restructuring; the old Top Deck/ Lower Deck study-bedroom block that we knew was built with proper the walls between rooms, so when the studies were taken out it was a major job to demolish them. Bill White joined us for the tour, & he was looking well. He provided us with various anecdotes about when he was living in the Rectory before Knapp's time. He was smoking his pipe, though only outdoors. ( Wonder if it's still St Bruno in it. ) He says Denis Price came to see him recently. The 6th form bar is now in the cellar of the main building - there was a change in the law that u18s cannot be served alcohol, but there is an exception if it's served with food, so now it's the 6th form tapas bar. The tuck shop has long gone, ( they probably survive on hampers from Fortnum's ) & the ground behind the old English Room is now covered with foam rubber as a play area for the infants. One of the things we wouldn't have noticed in our day was the architectural splendour of place. I suppose that makes sense for the main building, given its original purpose but for the stable block it seems excessive, especially the clock tower. All that expense just for some bloody horses. And we used to think Mrs Medill's stables were extravagant. ( Those have been turned into a cafe now. )

Subjects discussed were: the origins of the word wagger and the mysterious tunnel that was found when the arts block was being built, believed to be an escape route for priests from the Elizabethan house that was there, and the theft of the stone urns by professional thieves. Colin Burden was about as well - he was saying that he still does a bit of antique restoration, which he used to do in our day, though the demand for his work is reduced because of the economy. Tony Rose ( Paul's brother ) was there & he reports that the latter is getting over his diverticular disease with a strict nutritional regime - bet he's enjoying that. I wonder how much damage the Rendcomb diet did us. The word "irreparable" springs to mind. I bought a copy of the History of Rendcomb in Photographs ( 1920-2011) by Bill White & Chris Wood which was on sale, & it's quite good, though a lot of the pics are available online. Incidentally the two other History of Rendcomb books are worth a look as well: the first volume, by C.H.C. Osborne, J.C. James and K.L. James, tells of the origins of the school and the noble, humanitarian ideals of the founder. The second part, by Dave Sells, tells how those ideals were sold down the river by Medill. Both are interesting, but it's the first part that is the better read: the second volume is more of a chronological list of the changes in staff & buildings. ( See http://www.rendcombian.org.uk/stuff.aspx on the Old Rendcombian website. Colin Hitchcock has recently upgraded the site and there are good resolution versions of most photos available for download. ) Has anyone heard anything of Sandra According to the internet her son Wilf Kingdom Hall in 2006. Howard-Hill ( Macginnis ) recently? married Teri Daly of Tullamore at the how

I've just been listening to Persuasion on the iplayer: not bad, considering excruciating it was doing it for A level. Take care, keep in touch & let us have your news. Best wishes, Des