The Reunion

The reunion of our Maths. and Nat. Phil. class that graduated in June 1963, started on Tuesday 11^th June 2013 outside the Hunterian Art Gallery.  Several of our colleagues arrived early and the challenge was to recognise our classmates, some of whom we had not met for fifty years.  To help with the process a crib sheet with recent photos had been produced, and also the University produced official name badges.  Emma Sloan and Richard McConnell of the University Alumni office were on hand to welcome the members of our class.  After a tour of the latest Hunterian exhibit, our group moved to 1A The Square where tables had been reserved for our lunch.  This is a nicely renovated space under the Chapel, that was not available when we were students.

After lunch we moved to the Melville Room, one of the fine reception rooms under the tower of the main building.  Here the Principal, Professor Anton Muscatelli, joined us to add his welcome to our group.  With the aid of a large screen and laptop, he was shown the web site that was created by Ian Jones for the reunion.  This included the list of our class, and short biographies for most of those there, complete with recent photographs.  The web site has a good photo of our class from 1963 with a mouse-over feature which will identify each person in the photo.  The Principal said this seemed to be the most complete website he had seen for any GU reunion.  We asked that the web site be officially archived by the University.

At 3:00pm we were at the School of Physics and Astronomy, located where we studied, but now renamed the Kelvin Building.  Professor Martin Hendry, the Head of School, gave us a slide presentation to explain the changes over the last 50 years.  This included the merging of Nat. Phil. and Astronomy into the new School.  Professor Hendry gave us a tour of the building and the changes before we had tea in the Common room – a nice spacious area created from the top of the old lecture room.  In this Common room is part of the Lord Kelvin collection of artifacts – among them is the slow moving “tar glacier”, which is still moving!

For dinner we walked across University Avenue and up Ashton Lane to the Ubiquitous Chip.  Bill Paton organised the arrangements there and we had two nice tables in their airy atrium.  We had an excellent meal and a chance to chat and catch up on the news. The last two of us left about 11 pm.

On the Wednesday 12^th June, members of our class followed the schedule of the University Commemoration programme.  This started with a service in the University Chapel to thank the numerous donors going back to 1451, followed by the awarding of nine honorary degrees in the Bute Hall.  Each of the nine recipients had to sit in the old Blackstone chair, while their presenter recounted their accomplishments for the award.  This was followed by a “Vin d'Honor” in the cloisters.  Lunch in the Hunter Halls (where we used to sit examinations!) was a further chance for our group to mix and mingle.

On the web site is an excellent set of photographs contributed by Robert Smith, Gerald Ratzer and Ian Saunders.  These photographs will give a better context to the narrative above. Nineteen people from the 1963 graduating class, plus six partners, attended all or some of the events, with 23 at the Tuesday night dinner, and 17 at the Commemoration Lunch – a good turn-out after 50 years.
 

Reunion Logistics

This next section is meant to help other groups that may be organising a reunion or maybe a further reunion of this class in 5 or 10 years time. 

There was a reunion of our group in 1993 to mark the 30th year from graduation.  At that time there were microcomputers, but the Internet was not fully established as it is now.  The 1993 reunion committee worked with paper requests and produced a paper booklet with entries for all class members who replied.  This was an excellent starting point for the 2013 reunion, as the booklet was made available electronically and contained the names and addresses of most of our class.

The 2013 committee started over a year ago and decided that the design, planning and modus operandi would be based on computer technology, using the Internet and search engines to locate missing class members, and all communication would be done by email.  The GU Alumni Office was contacted almost a year ago and they were most helpful in posting an advert in the 'Avenue' magazine for our planned reunion.  They also provided the list of graduates that they knew of, complete with email addresses and other details.

Three of the committee were in Florida in February 2013 and met there to refine the plan.  One of the decisions made there - was that we would not collect any money from graduates for this event, but run it on a “Pay as you go” basis.  This meant that for the lunch and dinner on the Tuesday, participants ordered and paid for what they wanted.  The restaurant was asked to provide individual bills.  This gave people the flexibility to come to just the events they wanted.

Commemoration Day is organised annually by the University, and every 50th Anniversary graduate for whom the University has contact details, is automatically invited to the events on that day.        Organising the reunion around Commemoration Day worked very well, especially as Emma Sloan arranged for all our group to sit together at the lunch (we had two tables).

Ian Jones volunteered to create the web site for the reunion, as he had the expertise and experience to do this.
All the material collected including the photographs, biographies, and schedule of the reunion meetings were posted to the website and this is a very useful resource for our group and the University.

A big thank you is due to all those who helped to make a very successful event.
 

Report prepared by Gerald Ratzer on behalf of the Organising Committee