Former Western Canada Branch chair, Conrad Guelke (1954G),  organized the communications technology logistics from Vancouver and Margie Brown coordinated the invitations from Cape Town.  Eighteen members of the 1954 Matric class participated: three from Australia, one each from Canada and the USA, two from the UK and eleven from around South Africa.

After welcoming the participants, Conrad invited the Reverend Peter Macan to commence the proceedings with an “In Memoriam” tribute – a prayer and an acknowledgement of departed classmates.  While Peter read out their names, the list was also posted on the Zoom shared screen.

Participants were then invited to introduce themselves, describing where they were living, how they were managing Covid and what was keeping them busy in retirement.

Nicky Bicket (1973F, UK Branch Secretary) also addressed the gathering, providing an outline of ODU activities in both the UK and generally, and commending this communications technology as a means of linking OD’s.

The gathering concluded with participants being invited to reminisce with recollections of their class teachers over the years

The Zoom gathering lasted for one-and-a-half hours.  The event was well-received, and a recording was made which will be available for those classmates who were unable to participate.

The 1954 class would like to encourage other class years to use zoom or any other platform like it to reconnect with old friends in these trying times.