THE Bangor Grammar School class of 1975 enjoyed their 50th anniversary reunion as they celebrated their school days together.
The class of 1975 to 1982 gathered from across the globe, and were joined by their guest of honour, their geography teacher Roy Mairs, at Bangor’s CD club.
The reunion was organised by the ‘Thompsie Club’, formed in 2021 by a group of 1975 joiners to socialise with 1975 classmate Michael Tompson.
Michael had been an outstanding sportsman captaining the school’s 1st X1 hockey team which won the schools cup and was a central figure of the schools 1stX1 cricket team and a great golfer.
Michael was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2020 and passed away in December 2024 and is greatly missed by his classmates, wife Pauline and son Callum.
The class of 75- 82 was a golden era in many ways with members forming part of rugby schools cup finalists but the main thing was the shared spirit in adversity and in success.
Love the school, hate it, or indifferent, all differences were put aside to discover again the golden spirit they all shared whether they left in 1980 to work at Shorts or the shipyard, joined in 1980 from Gransha Boys High School or progressed on to further education.
The group was fortunate to have organiser Paul Smith’s previous experience in the world of film and sound in Hollywood prepare a montage of school and Bangor history covering the 1975 to 1982 era.
There was a soundtrack from the era which had been left by Michael Thompson. A quiz organised by Allan Smith was won by Michael Christie and a pilot’s challenge event was won by Simon Langtry.
Ewan Bewley, one of the organisers, kept an eye on time keeping as everyone enjoyed catching up with one another throughout the evening. catching up.
Ken Reid, another event organiser, said: “The golden formula was simple: no cost to anyone, no dress code, no name badges which encouraged folk to talk and catch up and plenty of space to circulate and a few short events.
“We are incredibly different as a year group, but have an indelible shared experience at our core. It was a great evening and it was perfect that Roy Mairs was able to join us which organiser Jeremy Doherty was able to facilitate.”
The only regret of the evening was that ‘the Thompsie’ was not with his classmates. The club was unable to contact all of the class of 1975-1982 year group. However, with plans already in the pipeline for a further reunion, anyone who wants to catch up next time should email Ken Reid at: kenzoil40@gmail.com.
