COLIN HASSON'S SPEECH AT REUNION 2013
"Good afternoon, SMOGS." ("Good afternoon, Colin!") "May I say how very pleased I am to be with you here today, and I'm only sorry that my wife is not able to join us.
It is in fact ten years since I attended my first SMOGS reunion, having discovered that SMOGS existed. I can thank that to the late Moya Kennedy. I went to tea and she told me all about SMOGS, not once, not twice, but at least seven times! Out of this we got the impression that it was some years ago, but eventually we discovered that it actually existed. Maureen was kind enough to invite me to lunch and I came - I would never refuse a good lunch - and I am actually wearing the tie from that reunion, which I have preserved and brought out every year, as often as I have been able to attend the reunions. And there it is - this is the SMOGS Reunion Tie.
Now, does anybody know any Latin?" ("Yes! Miss Smith!") "Very good. Mirabile dictu: wonderful to relate. And the story of SMOGS is wonderful to relate. There are many people to whom we have to offer our thanks for the success of the Society over sixty years. First of all, your Chef d'équipe - I've learnt French as well -- Maureen, and her Dream Team of Marigold, Pat and Vida. And now your Secretary. 'Secretary' is too small a word. Maureen is on the bridge, and certainly Caroline is in the engine room! Author of probably the finest book ever written about St Margaret's School, and possibly the only book!
And beyond this, of course, thanks to yourselves. Year in, year out for sixty years, in small numbers and large numbers, people have attended willingly and happily, and enjoyed it. I hope I'll be attending for another sixty years! I am myself a little surprised to be here, but never mind. But I'm sure that the Misses De la Mare and my parents would look down very proudly on what we see here today.
The past is another country: they do things differently there. St Margaret's in the old days stood for standards in education, discipline and behaviour which we would well do with today. I know that you, your children and grandchildren, possibly even great-grandchildren, will ensure that these standards are carried forward.
There is only one other small thing. It concerns a letter which you have seen. 'The Archers' had a story line which concerns a cricket team called St Margaret's, which defeated the 1st XI Ambridge Cricket Club. I thought that was a coincidence, but nevertheless I wrote to the BBC - other members of SMOGS also wrote - and eventually they replied and they explained that it was a coincidence. But the Production Co-ordinator did say - as I had told them a little about the School and pointed them towards the website - that 'it must have been quite a place'.
She was right. It was, and so is the Old Girls' Society. And your presence here today helps to prove it. Good luck. God bless you all.
