Geelong High School is inviting all past students, staff and their families to reunite.
The school’s doors will open to the public on Saturday, October 7, for a reunion and will feature a barbecue lunch, afternoon tea, special guest speakers, and guided tours.
Silver Gulls Alumni Association of Geelong High School president Doug Mann said the reunion allowed past students and staff to see how the school had changed.
“The vast majority of Geelong people wouldn’t have had a clue what happened here,” he said.
“The impulse behind the whole thing was that the school has been rebuilt from the ground up.
“It was in a very sad state and had been for a long time with parts of the school in an ordinary state of disrepair.”
Major redevelopment of the school began in 2017 to provide modernised learning spaces and facilities, which was completed in April 2020.
Mr Mann said that the school still maintained some of its original 1937 structures, including Art Deco-style windows and old pews from the church across the road, which is now a theatre.
“There has been an attempt to pay homage to the past while still creating something new and state-of-the-art,” he said.
“The old-timers who come back have fond memories of a grate where teachers told them to stand on if they were bad. It’s weird how scars of youth turn into something else as you age.
“It’s a walk down memory lane, which is a fascinating exercise for people who missed the transition, and for some people that could be up to 50 years ago.”
The Geelong High School Reunion is open to the public from 12pm on Saturday, October 7. For more information or to register, call 0414 815 534.
