11 years later, 26 alumni found themselves back at the European School of Culham in the UK.
50 had graduated in 2011, and given that some alumni are now in the USA, New Zealand and Australia, it wasn’t a bad turnout. Credit goes to the Dutch section that was 100% present. Poor performances though by the Italian and French sections. There’s always next time.
As more and more arrived from Oxford, Reading, London, Huddersfield, Brussels, Copenhagen, Chemnitz, Neufchâtel and Amsterdam, the excitement grew. Some hadn’t seen each other since the closure of the European School in May 2017 and some since the Bac Ball in July 2011.
Traditional British weather of clouds, wind and drizzle welcomed the 20-something year-olds in the Harry Potter-style quadrangle. A bit of sun greeted the Culhamites on the boat trip to Oxford and one chap even got sunburnt.
The current headteacher of the “Europa School” (now offering the International Baccalaureate) Lynn Wood also made an appearance which was more than appropriate given she had taught Maths to the English Section.
“How are you doing? What are you up to now?” Some alumni had gone into politics, others finance, medicine, engineering, architecture, charity-work, interior design, the arts, teaching (what goes around comes back around).
Time for a glass of bubbly and to dig up the time capsule. What did we find? A €2 coin. A 50p coin. An out-of-date cereal bar. A sheet of music. Our Bac book. A DVD of our cabaret. A snooker ball. Letters from our teenage selves. What did we put back in? A COVID testing kit (not used), a face mask, some business cards and an empty bottle of prosecco.
So watch this space. Next meet up is planned for 5 July 2031.
Photos available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15kzpH0wCd3EVRqnX2VvEiD_lHr5WFkpb
Top row from Left to right: Alex Braley, Gino Barth, Guy Janaway, Daan van Vrede
2nd row from left to right: Anna Arscott, Iris Brugman, Lorna Woollard, Mikkel Wilken, Martin Jakobsen, Vincent Crans
3rd row from left to right: Sonja Schelletter-Buckley, Anna Steiner, Clara Clark Nevola, Taro Kili, Mara Galeano, Dayna Betote
4th row from left to right: Cecilia Tucker, Sophie Banerjee, Cécile Roques, Martin Gellner, Jean-Louis Bach
Front row from left to right: Gabrielle Hamill, Lynn Wood (Principal at Europa School), Emma Woolcock, Mathilde Renauld, Katarina Eklund, Charlotte Bryan