On the evening of 22nd October 2008, 25 people sat down to dinner at the Hotel Windsor on Spring Street, Melbourne. Their common link was a connection with Wymondham College, Norfolk, England.
Earlier rugby tours by old boys of the college had seen mini reunions in several Australian cities and there seemed to be a desire by Old Wymondhamians to occasionally get together. The Melbourne dinner, the first official meeting of the Old Wymondhamians in the Southern hemisphere, was the result.
Melvyn Roffe, the college principal, was in the Far East for College and other business purposes, so the opportunity was taken to call the meeting in Melbourne during that trip. Mike Herring (current chairman of OW’s and dual Aus/UK citizenship) used the opportunity for a holiday and chance to catch up with old friends.
Besides the visitors from the UK other guests had travelled from Perth, Brisbane and New Zealand for the function.
Joan Thomson’s choice of The Hotel Windsor (Melbourne’s oldest grand hotel (1881)) proved to be an excellent one with a fine room for the dinner and good service from the staff.
An excellent evening was had by all, and despite the fact that few of the people had actually been at the college at the same time, the conversation never faltered. This may in part be due to the excellent Australian wines on offer that evening!
Melvyn gave a brief talk on the changes to the college since its inception and a series of slides ran continuously showing modern and old views of the buildings and people.
In conclusion a highly successful and thoroughly enjoyable evening with a general desire to take the idea of an Aus/NZ Chapter of the Old Wymondhamians further.
More photographs and a list of the attendees will appear here soon.
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