That Was The Year That Was

1967 – a year of major events whose legacy still reaches down to us –

Donald Campbell was killed trying to set a world record on Coniston Water
Strife in the Middle East with the Six Day War
Dr Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in Cape Town
The Torrey Canyon ran adrift off Lands End.
Foot and Mouth Disease was rife.

But for a group of girls 1967 was the start of new lives as they went from schoolgirls to teachers. We came from all corners of England, Wales and Ireland (it’s funny but I can’t remember anyone from Scotland) to Clough Hall at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk. Perhaps I can write another time about life as a student as the Sixties raced to an end, but it was the start of lifelong friendships. Some of us don’t meet up very often, but we’re still a group. Careers, marriages, children (and grandchildren), joy and sadness have affected us all and we’re probably very different to the carefree girls we once were. But inside I’m not a grey haired granny working in an industry I didn’t know existed in 1967, but a young girl free from the restraints of home and let loose upon the world.

Memories have been resurfacing in my mind as a group of us are meeting up on Saturday. It won’t be like the KHS reunion of a few weeks ago, as we’ve never really lost touch. But it’s like reaching out into the past and bringing it into focus.