Fifty years after they left the Kirkcudbright Academy’s 1971 prizegiving ceremony, a dozen class mates recently returned to their roots.
Former pupils from “as far afield as Thailand and Tongland” returned to the town and, sensitive to the pandemic times, they wore Class of ‘71 masks and held meetings in the open air.
Many of them hadn’t seen each other since the end of prizegiving on June 30, 1971, and they returned to revisit the twin pillars of Kirkcudbright’s establishment – the kirk and the academy.
The visit started with a trip to the kirk – the Selkirk Arms – on the Saturday evening before the academy pulled out all the stops on the following Monday.
The reunited classmates learned more about Kirkcudbright than they had ever known, partaking in Fiona Lee’s art tour and Joyce Simpson’s historical tour of the town.
The highlight of the reunion was a face to face meeting with the class of 2021, senior pupils and prefects, organised by head girl Maisie Anderson and head boy Huw Hodson.
School records from 1971 were dusted of and put on display, proving once and for all that Alastair Maxwell and Andrew Davidson did indeed score less than 25 per cent in the geography prelim.
Across the table in front of the Cochrane Hall the young at heart oldies talked of their lives and careers past, passing the baton to the youngsters.
The students – full of ideas, enthusiasm and promise – discussed their ambitions, ranging from astronaut to zoologist, from mental health practitioner to musician.
Anne Lochhead, nee Bryce, neatly summed up the group’s time at the school. She said: “That was a really enjoyable day. We felt so welcomed by the young people, the headie and Mr Henry. It was heart-warming.”
The new memories created were ably recorded for posterity by S6 pupil Alix Parker.
Special thanks are due to Joanna and Eileen at the Selkirk Arms and to Mr Tuffery and Mr Henry who provided the necessary permissions at the academy. This allowed the group to fulfil the class goal of recreating the 1971 Kirkcudbright Academy Magazine photo.
The returning class of ‘71 were: Jim Beveridge, Kirsty Crawford, Andrew Davidson, Kenneth Ferguson, Robert Ferguson, Alison Hunter, Anne Lochhead, Laura Matson, Alastair Maxwell, Robert Nelson, Jane Picken and Gillian Smith.
