Were you at BGS in the 60s or 70s ? Or, for that matter, were you ever at BGS ? If so, we would like to hear from you !

In summer 1997, Spadge (Hoppy) reunited himself with Cookie (aka Brassneck, also AOS for those who remember) using the good old Internet. Cookie did some research and left a message on Jez's answering machine, asking him to get in touch by e-mail, which he did. A chance encounter in Preston with Solly gave us another member of our select côterie (like the circumflex ? - Madame Harker would be proud, not to mention la belle Véronique - aaaaarrgggh ! I said not to mention her !). Up till then, it was just the 1X intake of 1966-67, but after Cookie put this page on the Web in late January 1998, Phil got in touch - he was in 1 Alpha in 1965-66. Mick Forshaw got in touch in May 1999 (it took me a month to reply !). Since then, there's been contact from a few more ex-BGS pupils, including Michael Imrie - about half an hour after I'd spoken on the phone to Mick F. to arrange a pint or three to celebrate contact after 20-odd years. Next in the veritable flood which seems to have started came Bryce Taylor in early July '99. I bumped into Martin Gunson, both of us buying alcoholic sustenance at the Victoria Wine Shop in Lytham, in February 2000, and he tells me he's now "wired for sound". Sorry about the previous disparaging comments ! Ian Scholes contacted me on 12 March 2000, sending me a photo of himself and his wife Trudie, saying "No laughing at the picture !" Ha-ha-ha-ha ! Last day of August 2000 brought an e-mail from Dave Robinson, who's now living in East Grinstead. Jonathan Hinchcliffe got in touch on 3rd December 2000, followed by Andy Cross in early February 2001.

So that's twelve of us so far - not bad for 3+ years work !

Anyway, here's our 1X class photo from April 1967. Not all the class are on there - Steve Williams joined us later, as did Clinker Hinchcliffe. Stephen Coope didn't join us till 4X.

Here's the key :

Front row, L-R : Andy Cross, Michael Imrie, Mick Forshaw, Andrew Brown, Sleepy Joe, Nick Butler, John Burman, Richard Bird, Bryce Taylor

Middle row, L-R : Ian Scholes, Dave Hopkinson, Jez Cliff, Martin Gunson, Dave Cookson, Dave Pryce, Stephen Thorne, Tim Reeves

Back row, L-R : Mark Bailey, Dave Thompson, Colin Farquhar, Dave Johnson, Andrew Baynes, Dave Robinson, Dave Crystal, Michael Kenyon

Hoppy visited the UK from New Zealand in summer 1998, and stayed with Cookie. Whilst in Lytham, they looked up Martin Gunson, who did not have an Internet connection at the time - though he does now (March 2000) ! Martin very kindly lent out his copy of the school photograph from May 1969, which is shown below in incredibly small form. If you would like a fuller-size, recognisable copy of the file (!), please e-mail Cookie, who'll send it on to you as an attachment in .gif format. Be warned - the file below is a meagre 77k, but the full file is a whopping 2.04 Mb - not for the faint-hearted, or those with slow modems, unless you're really keen !