F

I first discovered the Friends Reunited website* on our 2001 visit to Britain. I'm already in close touch with about a half dozen of my college friends, one friend from High School and one friend from childhood days. Why then is it important to me to be in touch with people I haven't heard from for so long?  To be quite honest I don't know, except that for me there is some irresistible urge to know what happened to people, to know how they turned out, and yes, to relive that long lost youth a little. Some five or six years ago, Ann, a friend from college, and I spent a couple of months trying to contact everyone from our year. We managed to find about half of the class of 80 people and put together a kind of newsletter with photographs entitled "Where Are They Now?". Perhaps the title says it all. A nostalgic curiousity. 

Through the site last year I made contact with Angie, a friend from High School, and touched bases with Craig, a boyfriend from Bradford. As soon as I found it I was hooked and as soon as I learned that for a small fee you could add photos to the site, I plunked down my five pounds (electronically speaking). I didn't have my class and upper school photos as they were stored away in New Jersey with most of our other belongings, but I did have a couple of snaps from high school that my mother (God Bless her) had kept for me. Having asked Angie for help in identifying the subjects, I loaded them up hoping to get some responses. Alas, nothing came of it. 

Be that as it may, when we got back to England this year I quickly logged in again, hoping to find more old friends and I hit lucky. Not only did I find two friends from primary school days, Judith and Jackie two of the 'four J's' as we called ourselves, but I also found more friends from Darlington High School for girls. At a nostalgic afternoon looking at Jackie's old school photos, we agreed to put them up on the friends site, hoping to stimulate help in identifying those that our aging memories could no longer remember. Thanks to Jackie I managed to put up a class photo from our second year in High School (1961/62) along with a couple of snaps from later years. Another high school friend, Judith (not the same Judith), saw the photos and filled in some of the blanks for us. We are still missing a few names and hoping that someone out there will help someday. 

The nostalgia kick is obviously not for everyone. There are some former classmates that won't respond to my emails, but that is fine. There is no obligation to fulfill my or anyone else's curiosity. Perhaps that is why the internet is such a wonderful place for this kind of thing. It allows you to be selective. 

I attended Darlington High School for Girls from September 1960 until June 1967. The photos on this page are from that era. Apologies for the poor quality of the originals, but after all they are museum pieces. The photo at the top of this page and below (click on the photo to enlarge it) is Form Upper IIIA taken in April 1962 (our second year in High School). The class teacher was Miss Morton, now Mrs Cape. The photo belongs to Jackie Taylor who attended both primary school and high school with me. She is in the middle row 5th from the left. I also own a copy, but it is in storage in New Jersey right now. Take a look and see if you can find me. When you fail, check the list of names below the photo.

Miss Morton and form Upper IIIA

Back Row: ?Unidentified?, Jan Bates, Ruth Fell, Valerie Shield, Angela Barwick, Judith Hogg, Sheila Dunn, Monica Stoppleman, Angela Coulthard, Jackie Paling, Gillian Pyburn, Christine Wildsmith.

Middle Row: ?Unidentified?, ?Unidentified?, Sheila Humphrey, Diana Redfern, Jackie Taylor, Jeanne Sargent, Dorothy Degenhardt, Jill Weldon, Diana Scoffom, Judith Broadbent.

Front Row: Jackie Moye, Ann Farr, ?Unidentified?, Linda Elliott, Ann Bancroft, Miss Morton, Claire Hodge, Katherine Ellison, Christine Chapman, Jean Armstrong, Gillian Stacey.

This is another photo belonging to Jackie Taylor. This was probably taken in 1965 and includes members of form VAlpha as well as VA.

Back row: Jackie Paling, ?Unidentified?, Diana Scoffom, ?Unidentified?, ?Unidentified?, Miss ?, Judith Hogg, Jeanne Sargent, ?Unidentified?, Monica Stoppleman, ?Unidentified?, Jackie Taylor, Dorothy Degenhardt (behind), Gillian Stacey (in front), Christine Wildsmith, Jennifer Thwaites, Sheila Dunn, ?Unidentified, Christine Chapman, Helen Barret

Front Row: Linda Elliott, Jackie Moye, Jan Bates, Ann Farr, Valerie Shield, Angela Coulthard, Jean Armstrong, ?Unidentified?.

 * The U.S. equivalent is www.classmates.com.