Saturday 25th October
On Saturday morning we met at the club for the grand tour of the school. I parked the Toyota and jumped in a Matatu for the very short trip round the corner to the school. We were met by the headmaster and all the teachers. What a turnout it was. There were welcome speeches followed by singing and dancing. At one point I thought this might be a long day of speeches. Not so. After a while we were set free to explore the school at will. Generally the buildings were in pretty good condition except for the dirty walls and some sagging ceilings. I visited both my junior and senior dormitories, saw the bed positions where I spent many horrified and desolate nights. I think a lot of us experienced some heavy discipline that would be shocking if levied on children today.
The long path from the classrooms to the sanatorium was still there and quite a few of the pepper trees were standing. The picture of the ‘laughing musketeer’ was still in the senior dining room. Plenty of us remembered this because his eyes seemed to follow you wherever you were. There was a general picture shoot at the front of the main building which was great. Hopefully a lot of the guests have pictures that they will pass on. We split into small groups and visited just about every building, always in tow of students who acted as guides. They wanted our telephone numbers and names. Soon it was lunch time so we went into the junior dining room, washed our hands in a bowl at the entrance, and sat down to cucu na mboga. Conversation around the table was punctuated with exclamations of how fun it was to be back. Eventually the tour was over and I got into the Matatu for the return to the club. Once there we had a few drinks on the terrace and then disappeared to our various rooms to get ready for the evening gala which was to start at 07.00 pm. The gala gathering was awesome. Many friendly smiling faces. For most of us the ice was broken and it was time to mingle. I talked to two very familiar old friends, Chris Flatt and Dick Barnley. I introduced myself to the two Daniels brothers and told them, to their astonishment, that their mother was my God Mother. Long discussions. Many emotional speeches and awards delivered by Bridget Walton Tony Mills and others. A whip-round was made for the staff of the club, and the wine flowed. During the evening Tony Mills invited me to stay at his farm the following evening with possibility of a visit to our old farm further up the mountain from his place What a great opportunity.!