TWENTY YEARS ON for goodness sake!  How old are we, yet strangely driving up to the daunting walls of my school, Roedean, in Brighton the pangs of fear and anticipation of my first day in 1984 return just for a few moments. However once parked (on the upper terrace not tucked behind the squash courts) and walking freely on the grass in the Quad (not permitted when I was there) It began to feel more like an establishment I attended to learn a collection of useless and interesting facts, the importance of manners, morals and makeup and that Sherry comes in three colours! Well of course for all those who didnt go to my school it wasnot all like that - the reputation and rumours would have you believe it was. Infact all I remember is that it was my school, full stop, nothing odd. Though the fact we bulk ordered Mc D’s on film night probably set a few differences between us and others.

We were taken on a tour of the houses by the Librarian the memories came flooding back, Study Passage - in the year of Morten Harkett of Aha. the names of my House mates, Stella Baker, Judith Ainger, Claire Peerless, Andrea Kennedy, Gowri Balesegaram, Rasmi Prakash, Nathalie Wicks, Laila Michaelcucks, Clare Packman, Sam Lodge… I know there are more, but as always struggling to remember - will find me raking through old chests of my past this evening no doubt! There were several photos from 1984,6 and 7 in the common room, still I am sure fitted with the same flower print setees that were there when I used to have my Confirmation lessons.  The JPR (Junior Prep Room) was relatively unchanged, though I did hear an older OR than me state the Plinth on which a prefect would sit to oversee junior prep was not not there! The GDR and SPR were there, but in all our tour the feeling that rooms were locked and places out of bounds was very apparant. Whilst we all understood the privacy issue and the protection of teh current students it did reflect poorly on the times in which we live.

When I left I did feel slightly odd that there was evidence of me still there in terms of still holding 2 School records in sport (4×100 Mtrs with Nina Chickwe, and the Ratcliff twins, Caroline and Louise) and the long jump with a jump of 4m 91cm, the framed photos in the house Common room and the ingraving of winning the Morelock Cup. Like me, others are still noted in the past: C-J Lyon as the Head of School, the Deputies, winners of other cups and awards, donators of bricks and pews, cabinets and chairs (or whatever else we get asked to fund each year). How we make our marks on the world we live in and forget about it to move into the future.

It would be nice to see more ORs return, it is worth it guys, alot of fun and the school makes you feel very welcome.