News (posts)

We would like to thank all people who helped in making the reunion happen, it was greatly appreciated

We would also like to thank all the classmates who came to the reunion and made it two very enjoyable evenings of memories and laughs. It was great to meet everybody again, some who we had not seen for 50 years. It was special that some of the teachers managed to come also.

Already there has been a demand for another reunion in 4 years, marking 60 years since we started at the Institute. As most of the hard work in finding pupils has been done, organising another wont be too bad. What are your thoughts on this idea and would you support a similar setup of the two nights, second night with buffet, band and partners? Please let us know at mainsofcortes@yahoo.co.uk

Dougie and Emmie

The latest information (from Dougie Dalzeil).

It is now just a couple of months to the reunion weekend, and Dougie asks that if you haven’t contacted him yet then please do so now, so that the numbers for the Friday and/or Saturday night can be finalised and arrangements (e.g. catering) can be adjusted accordingly. Even if you are not coming to anything, please let him know that you have made up your mind to that. It will not be easy to adjust numbers at the last minute, and we don’t want anyone to be disappointed if they intend to come but haven’t yet notified Dougie.

Can we remind folk that if you are coming to the 50-year reunion in August this year (and we hope you are), would you please get in touch with Dougie Dalzeill (details at Update October 2016) to arrange to pay a deposit. The organisers need confirmed numbers to begin to finalise the arrangements, and that is based on received deposits rather than declared intentions.

For the latest, see very latest information but also read below ……

Folk have been busy with the organisation of our 50-year reunion in August 2017 in Sound Hall, Lerwick, and the format is now in place.
On the Friday evening (25th) there will be a gathering in the small Baila Hall which will be for classmates only, to get re-acquainted. There will be a bar and “nibbles”.
On the Saturday evening (26th) we will have the main event, which will be a buffet dinner for classmates and partners, again in the small Baila Hall. There will be live music.

Dougie and Emmie Dalzeill have done a lot of the organising, and Dougie has opened a bank account with the TSB for collecting deposits against the cost of putting this on. There are fixed costs from the hire of the hall and band, and variable costs from the buffet (per head). We need to ask for for a deposit of £20.00 per head initially for Saturday night only (i.e. £20 for you and £20 for your partner if you will be accompanied), to confirm numbers wishing to attend. For all Friday night attendees, we ask for a deposit of £5.00 per head (add that on if you are coming to both Friday and Saturday). We anticipate that this will cover the bulk of the cost. As yet there is no deadline on this, but we would encourage you to commit as soon as you can if you are coming so that we can get a firm estimate of the numbers to be catered for. NOTE: final Saturday cost is £30 per head so a further £10 each is now required.

We have sent out an email to the updated mailing list with details of the bank account (we don’t want to put it up here in public view) for folk to put money in on line by bank transfer. I guess you can also do this at your bank. When people are putting money in via on line banking on the internet they should use their name as reference ID, that way we should be able to keep track of people who have paid. Please also contact Dougie (details below) to state that you have paid (noting what you plan to attend and what have paid), so that he can check receipt – then confirm back to you by email reply to your email. Also people should identify any allergies that will need to be addressed by the caterers.

People who want to pay by cheque can make it payable to the AEI 61/67 Class Reunion and send them to Dougie to pay into the bank.
The address is:

Douglas Dalzeill
Mains of Cortes
Lonmay
Fraserburgh
Aberdeenshire,
AB43 8UU
(tel:01346 532684,   email: mainsofcortes@yahoo.co.uk)

Dougie has done most of the work in tracking folk down and contacting you. There is an active group in Shetland dealing with things, but if you want to put yourself forward to help, contact Winnie (Leask) Kay at email: winniekayboe@gmail.com or Maurice Smith at email: maurice@cumliemedia.co.uk or anybody else that you know is involved.

You can comment on this (or anything else relevant) here on this website for anyone else to see. If you have anything extensive that might make an “article” to be posted here, or photos (scanned as jpg images – needn’t be more than 800 pixels long side, or I can shrink, but not too small), send that to me Robin Barclay (email link).

Robin Barclay
October 7, 2016

I found and added some images from slides in a new Gallery ( Gallery 3 ). Some are from the summer of 1965 at the end of our 4th year, others later (unfortunately not date stamped and a bit jumbled). Send anything relevant to me for inclusion here (thanks to all who have already sent images).

Maurice Smith should convene the next meeting of organisers in Shetland.

Dougie continues to track down classmates, and several new email addresses have been received (and phone numbers for many of the rest), but there are still a few not accounted for. If you have an email address but have not received an email about this then send us your email (by email – see contacts ) – we either do not have your email or what we have is wrong.

Robin Barclay

There is a new photo in Gallery 1 – of “our” Beanfeast (1966), found and submitted by Colin Stove. Also, recently, a couple of photos sent in by Sally (Wills) Huntley in Gallery 2.

Some of us met up in Shetland last week to “initiate” an organising committee “on the ground” here in Shetland. If you want to be involved contact Maurice (or Yvonne or Winnie) who will convene follow-up meetings. We spent most of the time reminiscing, but a few suggestions (catering, music) were made but nothing decided since there are others who have said that they want to be involved who couldn’t make it to this first meeting. However it is up and running!

Dougie Dalzeill has been reconnoitering possible venues (maybe as a guizer in the Jarl squad?) and has suggested Sound Hall or Lerwick Boating Club. He and Emmie also suggest the second half of August 2017 (after the school holidays) as a good time to hold the reunion. This initiative was Emmie’s onset (good for her!) – and Dougie and Emmie are coordinating the actions so far, and compiling a list of contacts. If you are interested, but have not yet submitted your contact details, get in touch with Dougie and Emmie (click the link to email).

Latest (Feb 17): from Dougie – “After speaking with the secretary of Sound Hall , I have provisionally booked the small Baila Hall for Friday 25th and the main Hall for Saturday 26th August 2017“.
I understand Dougie is going ahead to confirm the booking – so we have dates. Some of us now need to get together (in Shetland) and form an organizing committee – I hope to get that going while I am up here (until late March) so am waiting to hear from anyone who might be interested. Peter Leask has suggested a few venues for an initial meeting but we need a few volunteers. Get in touch.

Robin Barclay

I had a quick look in a certain box that I suspected might have some photos from this time – and found some I had forgotten existed. I know there may be more somewhere. I think we mucked around in the school darkroom – some look as if we developed them ourselves. I had completely forgotten about the 5th year Up Helly A’ squad (I remember the 6th year one but don’t think I have any photos). If you find anything among your photos, scan and send it in as a jpg file (needn’t be that big).

I have put these on the Gallery2 page – which is a gallery grid offered by WordPress. The images are small in the grid, but can be seen at their proper ratio, and larger, if you click on any. If you then “view image” it will open full size as uploaded (these are reduced-size images to save website space, I can supply larger originals on request). On a PC right-click the image and choose “view image” – on anything else figure it out for yourselves (on a tablet, eg. an iPad, just drag it larger).

Robin Barclay

There is a new photo sent in by Dougie Dalzeil in the Gallery, taken at the 1963 Beanfeast, which was our year’s first one, having progressed from the Junior Christmas Party (remember Charlie Forret’s 3-leg “Jake-The Peg” dance?). There are a lot of weel-kent faces, including many from our year.

If any of you have any relevant photos that you want to share, scan them and send them to Robin Barclay for posting on this website. You can comment on any post and it will appear here (eventually, they need to be approved in case of spam). If you have something you want put here as a post, or suggestions for a new website page, contact Robin (anything to do with the website).

For anything at all relating to the organization of the reunion, contact Douglas & Emmie Dalzeil.