It's a school reunion fifty years in the making, the class of 1960 meeting up together for the first time next weekend.

"Different people had talked about it but it never happened," Marj said.

"This is the first reunion we've had.

"I thought if we don't do it now we wouldn't do it. Fifty seemed like a good number."

Using keen skills that would make a detective proud, Doreen and Marj spent 12 months tracking down past students and made contact with 156,90 of which are attending the reunion.

There were only 13 people they couldn't find.

"We had a huge class," Doreen said.

"People from Delungra, Texas and Moree would come and board.

"A lot of kids had to repeat in those days.

"When looking for people we broke into groups and asked a lot of questions.

"Girls were the hardest (to find), they married and changed their names."

A few students, who unfortunately can't

make the reunion, have found themselves overseas with one found in the Philippines and another in Mississippi in the US.

"It's been great finding people, you've got people who have moved away but still have a connection to Inverell," Doreen said.

Doreen, who met her husband at school, came from Delungra to Inverell as a high school student and has lived in Inverell ever since.

"I thought I'd never get to know people when I first came," she said.

"They were good years, we all have fond memories."

Marj said school days were very different to what they were today.

"We could finish school at 14 and nine months because there were a lot of jobs," she said.

"Many of the boys left then and went and worked on the family farm."

Marj's children also attended Inverell High School, as do her grandchildren.

"I'm very proud to say that my three children went to the high school and my four granddaughters go to Inverell High," she said.

The reunion will be held in town next weekend and involves a tour of the school, dinner on Saturday night and an informal get together at Riverside on Sunday morning, with all welcome.

© 2010 Inverell Times

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