Writing for Fun
March 2015
Reunion - Diane Silverston
In 2014 Southend U3A had an outing to Sutton Hoo and Woodbridge, this gave her the chance she had hoped for, over several years. Would the day be suitable for her friend? Would they be able to meet?
Diane and Sheila had met aged eleven on a coach leaving Walthamstow for Sonning Common near Reading. On 3rd September 1958 they were two very small, quite frightened little girls amongst a coachload of boys and girls, who were used to this journey six times a year.
They were leaving home to go to Kennylands, a boarding school. It had been an army camp for the Canadians during the war, and then left to Essex Education Committee and Council, as a school for children in their area who needed to be schooled away from home.
Many of the children at Kennylands were there because their families were fighting or living abroad, others were from split families, or like Diane, health reasons meant they needed to get out of London.
They arrived to find themselves in a large wooden chalet type building, which was to be their school dormitory for the year. Twenty eight girls in all, each with an iron bedstead and a wooden locker. Not exactly home from home! Most of the girls had trunks full of clothes and shoes, but Diane had brought lots of books in hers, so very quickly became the 'library' of the dorm.
As years passed our two girls moved with the others their age from dorm to dorm.
The education given was not of the best, now Diane wonders how some of the teachers got their jobs, a real mixture of misfits. The Head and his wife had been semi professional ballroom dancers, which meant that the children were given dance lessons as part of their curriculum. In fact most of them passed official medals for this.
Every Sunday they were shown 'Educational Films' as part of their entertainment, and letters home had to be written, these were checked by the teachers and if not correct had to be written again! Diane's mother always knew which of her letters had been written on a Sunday, and said she preferred to read the ones written at other times, as they were more natural.
At the end of their 4th year at Kennylands, July 1962, Diane's mother took her home, by now in Woodford, so she could go to school at McEntee Tech. in Walthamstow. A very good move, as from here on Diane's education once again flourished, and she could see the opportunities ahead of her.
Sheila stayed on at Kennylands for another year, but when she left in July 1963, the two met again as Young Liberals in Walthamstow.
Diane went to college in Clacton in September 1966 and their contact was restricted to occasional meetings, but Diane's brother Martin was still in contact with Sheila through the Young Liberals, as she had married a friend of his, Geoff, and they had moved out of Walthamstow.
Diane did return to Woodford for a short while in 1969 but in Jan 1970 she moved to Southend to start teaching in Benfleet.
Contact was at an end for quite a while, but strangely enough Diane happened to teach three girls who were the daughters of Linda and Dave, friends of Sheila and Geoff, also part of the Young Libs scene in Woodford many years ago.
Linda gave Diane Sheila's new address in Grundisburgh near Woodbridge. Christmas cards were exchanged and contact re-established. By now Sheila had a daughter Felicity.
So when the U3A outing to Woodbridge came up, here was a chance. Diane phoned Sheila, who was pleased to hear from her. Yes she could come to Woodbridge on that day and would be at the bus station at the set time. Would they recognise each other? Would they still get on? Would they have anything to talk about? After all it was over forty years since they had last met.
Feeling a little nervous as she sat on the coach pulling into Woodbridge bus station, Diane suddenly saw her walking towards the coach, Sheila, just the same.
They spent the next two hours chatting away, as if they had been meeting regularly. Memories of other friends at Kennylands, Sheila had news about several of them (she uses Friends Reunited a lot!)
Soon it was time to leave and get back for Diane to catch the U3A coach.
'We must meet again.'
'Yes, soon.'
So on Wed 25th February 2015 Diane and Sheila had arranged to meet at Hyde Hall near Chelmsford. Unfortunately the 10.20 Regal no. 3 bus didn't come, so Diane had to hurry to catch the 11 o'clock X30 to Chelmsford. A phone call to Sheila to change the arrangements.
At 12.05 the X30 pulled into Chelmsford bus station and there was Sheila waiting. A short walk to her car and a drive to Hylands House, where the 2 friends decided to have lunch.
Four and a half hours later they left having remembered things about their life at Kennylands, some good, some not so good, life as a Young Liberal and life now.
Both are busy people with full diaries of activities and events, but they are determined to meet regularly and so the reunion is complete.