The 2016 leavers cohort came together for a 10 year reunion on the 9th/10th of May. The weekend began with a good old fashioned registration in the Quad. It had a real start of term feeling with attendees coming in from all over. Special mentions must go to Isaac Tse R16 and Sophie Hollerbach C16 flying in from Hong Kong and Berlin for the weekend respectively.
Once arguments had been settled over who got the best rooms in our Plunket accommodation, it was off to the Ref for lunch. Somehow 10 years on, queue etiquette is still lacking from this particular crop of OGs.
Following lunch, we were then split into groups to be given tours of our old houses and the school by current pupils. This was a great chance for OGs to get to know the current students, compare Downside life now with 10 years ago and visit the areas which many of us called home for 5 years. Spoiler alert, not much has changed. Pupils still love the Cafe, playing sport and school socials and still complain of the cold 4th form dormitories in the winter.
We then all congregated at the Pavilion, watching the 1st XI take on King’s Bruton and catching up with some of the teachers. In typical Downside fashion a trip to the Somerset Wagon Pub was then proposed and so course we all complied! With the cohort now all safely over 18, getting served was no longer a problem and the sun came out to greet us.
The Downside catering staff had kindly laid on a BBQ for us in the evening in Plunket – Downside catering has clearly gone from strength to strength in the intervening 10 years. Safely back in the confines of Plunket we all caught up with one another. Some of our number are now married, others engaged, some have moved continents and some have even deployed to all corners of the globe through their service in the armed forces. Many stories were traded and lots of reminiscing over the old days was indulged in. Before we knew it Saturday had turned into Sunday and the hours until 10AM Mass were few.
A fairly bleary eyed group managed to haul themselves up to the Abbey for Mass which was beautifully sung by the Chamber Choir. Some of the more adventurous amongst our number then took on the inaugural Downside Fun Run, blowing off the cobwebs from the night before and then departing and heading back to real life. The weekend was thoroughly enjoyed by all, with chatter already prematurely beginning about arrangements for our 20 year reunion.
We’d like to thank all those at Downside who made the fabulous weekend possible, particularly the cleaners, caterers, Development department and of course Mike Randall for giving the event the go ahead!
