OV Reunion in Broadway

It has been wonderful to hear from OV David Horobin (W 61-69), who has kindly shared some details from the mini-reunion held with some of his King’s cohort in Broadway, Worcestershire. Dave is currently based in the US, and was making the most of his visit to the UK! He explains further:

From L-R: Barney Burnham (Ch 59-69), Dave Malcolmson (Cl 57-68 and Old St Alban’s), John Stephen (Cl 60-67), Bill Dailey (Ca 64-68), Andrew Reekes (Ch 64-69), Peter Garland (Ch 63-68), Bill Bridgens (Ch 61-68), Paul Smith (J 64-69 and Old St Alban’s), Derek Wolfendale (W 58-68), Pete Ross (W 62-69), Richard Apps (Ch 61-68), Nigel Garland (Ch 61-66), Dave Horobin (W 61-69) and his sons Andrew Horobin & Christopher Horobin.

“A sound reminder of the greatness of being at King’s and the relationships we nurtured, was when Bill Dailey blustered through the front door, shook my hand with vigour, looked me in the eye with a sarcastic grin and pronounced, “My, Horobin, time has not been good to you, has it?”, not having seen each other in at least 35 years! Of course, I took it as a compliment coming from Dailey until I found out later he had been saying the same to many of us!

“As it always was, Bill’s humour was the centre of everything, but no more than any other “old boy” that showed up. We were sadly missing a few men from “aging” or health issues and for some reason, “having an aversion to reunions”, which I fail to understand. It’s not the thought of a “reunion”, it’s more the luxury of the relationships, as was vividly on display that day.

“A great day was had by all. We rented a great AirBnb near Broadway and opened it up on Sunday October 20 for most of the day. I don’t believe any of us had all the time we would have wanted with every man to fully catch up and engage in any depth, but the recreation of the atmosphere of life-long friends enjoying time together was magical. Seems like, when we were all kids, we didn’t do the “hug” thing. Hugs abounded that day!

“For me personally, it was an absolute pleasure to witness my 27 & 31 year old “boys”, Christopher and Andrew, revelling in the occasion, witnessing the great men-friends their Dad had spent so many informative and great years with, laughing at all the old stories and telling new ones, and especially all the p..s-taking that ensued, which has not changed in 60 years and hopefully, never will. Christopher’s girlfriend made the particular point of how thrilled she was to witness my thorough enjoyment of the occasion and ironically thanked me for not sending Christopher to King’s, as we had once thought of doing, because they would never have met! Susan, my girlfriend, reacted equally positively in stating how wonderful (shocking to hear!) all the men were to the point that we have now had discussions about the attraction of returning to the UK as the political situation in the US promises to considerably deteriorate with the pending US administration (no names mentioned, of course!). These were some of the unexpected bonuses of the event, as well as many mentions of the necessity of a repeat in the near future. It was very obvious that “none of us is getting any younger!”, and miraculous that so many of us have survived so well considering what we put ourselves through, especially memories of escaping to go down to Sid’s (brain-matter destroying) cider house in town so much!

“Thank you to all the men who contributed wine and especially to Drs.David Malcolmson for their organisation of some of the best food we had on our three week trip, including Venice & Milan!

“Thanks to everyone who came and thanks for all the complimentary emails since! Wonderful to meet the considerably “better halves” and very proud to introduce my family to everyone. To those who could not attend……you’d better bl**dy make it next time! You missed a delightful day! These relationships are too precious.”

Those attending and from left-right in the group photo above:

Barney Burnham (Ch 59-69), Dave Malcolmson (Cl 57-68 and Old St Alban’s), John Stephen (Cl 60-67), Bill Dailey (Ca 64-68), Andrew Reekes (Ch 64-69), Peter Garland (Ch 63-68), Bill Bridgens (Ch 61-68), Paul Smith (J 64-69 and Old St Alban’s), Derek Wolfendale (W 58-68), Pete Ross (W 62-69), Richard Apps (Ch 61-68), Nigel Garland (Ch 61-66), Dave Horobin (W 61-69) and his sons Andrew Horobin & Christopher Horobin.