| The generation of
children described in a song that says ‘ WE HAVE FREEDOM, WE
HAVE MONEY, IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY, KIDS OF THE BABY
BOOM’ have matured and many are grandparents. Now a desire to
revisit bygone days, reunite with old school friends and teachers,
seems to have become a ‘need’. Probably it is an awareness of
our middle age, combined with the motivation to reconnect with the
carefree times in our lives.
The special ‘Boomers’ of
Horwood Regional High School in Clarenville, NL are working
tirelessly to hold a ‘50th Birthday Party’ for
their old school, combined with a reunion of all students, and
teachers, who were at the school anytime during the years
1957-1966. This ‘Supersize Reunion’ is planned for July 21,
22, and 23, 2006. An invitation is being extended to all those who
attended or taught at Horwood High during those years, to take
this step back in time with your spouse or guest. Celebrate those
school days with a reunion that promises to be one of the best
yet! The drive is on to find anyone, not only graduates, but
anyone, whose lives were touched by this school during those
years.
For the students in Grade Nine
and Ten in 1966, this is a bonus. Having been eligible for the
last Horwood Regional High Reunion in 1992, they now have the
opportunity to join the gang at Reunion 2006! A huge effort is
underway to contact everyone possible. This seems to resurface the
old school spirit. Stories of those school days will be told over
and over, along with stories of the participants’ present lives.
Friends who have not seen each other for years will feel the time
between then and now slip away.
A Planning Committee of former
students for this ‘SMASH HIT REUNION’ chose the dates as
mentioned enabling people to make their plans well in advance, to
develop ‘Early Bird’ draws with tremendous prizes of *Two
nights at a Clarenville area hotel, such as ‘St.Judes’, ‘The
Restland Motel’ or ‘The Clarenville Inn’, *A prize package
worth $250.00, or *A full refund of your Registration. Details of
all these things are on the Registration Form they have designed.
By Reunion 2006 starting time, more prizes and plans will have
been added to the already marvelous itinerary.
A most impressive idea is the
special draw to be done as the Reunion begins on Friday, July 21,
2006. This first-rate prize will really kick start the weekend. At
least to me it sounds terribly appealing. Due to their generosity,
a keen interest in this project, and being alumni of Horwood
Regional High School, Gene and Lorraine Ploughman of ‘Thorburn
Aviation’ are donating a half hour flying sightseeing tour for
three over the Clarenville/Shoal Harbour area. The winner of this
draw will be the guest who has traveled the greatest distance to
attend Reunion 2006. It is a remarkable opportunity for three
people to have an aerial view of just how much the area has grown.
Committees have been burning the
midnight oil, and plans are falling into place. Everybody is
encouraged to PLEASE raise awareness of this occasion. After all
those years, many former students and teachers are living in
places they never dreamed they would be. Their fellow alumni want
to find them, so they can be sent their invitation. By getting
started now, a year and four months before the party, everyone has
time to make their plans to attend. (I think they are starting
early so they have time to lose weight and color their hair! Just
my opinion of course!)
Up to now they have identified
700 students and have addresses for only 75% of them. So true to
Newfoundland tradition, they’ll forge onward ‘til the work is
done! The committees need help in publicizing their ‘REUNION’!
Students from Port Blandford, Smith Sound, Random Island, South
West Arm and Come by Chance attended Horwood High, a school that
was bustling from 1957 to 1976, when it was replaced by the new
Clarenville Regional High School.
The first invitations were
mailed March 2/05. If you were a student or teacher at the school
and did not receive one then the planning committee needs to know
where you are. Contact them if you have been missed. The
Clarenville Area Chamber of Commerce has been given a big ‘Thank
You’ for giving this project its’ own web page that is packed
with information. This informative page can be found at
www.clarenville.net/reunion2006.
As well there is a Registration form you can print to register for
our ‘Birthday Party/Reunion.’ Also at
www.clarenville.net
any information you would need about the area or town is available
to you as well.
The Chairman of the
Reunion Committee is Chick Cholock who may be reached at
cholock@nf.sympatico.ca,
or by Faxing 709 466 3811. Chicks’ civic address is 31 Cholock
Place, Clarenville, NL, A5A 1C3, and his phone number is
709-466-7435.
http://www.clarenville.net/reunion2006
The Clarenville Day Celebrations are being held July 26, 2006, so
why not make it your ‘COME HOME YEAR’ and participate in those
activities as well?
This is a great opportunity for
schoolmates and teachers to be together again! It seems to me that
this is a ‘PARTY’ that will create even more memories. The
music and food, the ‘special’ memories, the tears and
laughter, and just being together again will be pleasing for the
soul!
So get out the blue jeans, buy
the hair gel, and Register! Make contact with the committee and
plan a step back in time. You’ll see old friends and celebrate
the opportunity you had to be associated with a school, an
opportunity many people in this world do not have, but we do! We
are thankful for that as well.
This will be an opportunity to
put aside our high speed driven lives, and go back to being the
spirited young people we were, and remember events long forgotten.
It is all here waiting for you!
See you in July, 2006!
Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe |
