Why social media is a good thing for school reunions

THE view across the North Sea, high up on the cliff tops above Scarborough as dawn was breaking, was spectacular.

There was a reddish hue on the horizon, while looking down at the North Yorkshire town from the Cleveland Way, a sprinkling of white street lights clearly etched the road which weaved along foreshore. 

Up high on the clifftop, this was a little piece of secluded heaven with only the wind whistling off the sea for company.

Over the years, I've written ad nauseum about the joys of running – the sheer ecstasy of running unbridled and alone across a remote track, whether it is in a forest, up a mountain, or towards a beach.

Words simply do not do justice to the feelings of joy both during and after a run which runners of all abilities share.

For months, while I have been nursing an annoying hamstring injury, I have been envious of others who have been setting out at the weekend for their morning sorties. I have been unable to run. 

There have been times when I wondered whether this deep-rooted hamstring pull would ever go away.

This morning, pushing my way across the beautiful and undulating countryside, I was able to run pain-free for the first time for 10 weeks. It was a huge relief.

I’m not taking anything for granted, and will only relax once I've got rid of the injury and I’m back to the level of fitness I am used to. It will mean lots of short but steady 30-minute runs – but this is a start.

I WAS in Scarborough for the last in a series of Rotary district conferences on behalf of the charity Hearing Link. For two days, I hosted a stand where I met many Rotarians from north-west England clubs to talk to them about the charity and the work we are doing around hearing loops.

I have been working hard to forge close relationships with Rotary International, and after attending district conferences in Eastbourne, Bristol, the Isle of Wight, Swansea and now Scarborough, I am hoping to set up loop projects in more towns across the UK.

Scarborough is an interesting place. A town which has seen better days, but charming and with plenty of character all the same. Give me Scarborough compared to the "kiss me quick" culture of Blackpool anytime!

We stayed in a delightful, old-style Bed & Breakfast set in a four-storey town house. It is clearly a popular place since the stair walls are littered with signed posters and programmes from some of the shows which have appeared in Scarborough. The only stars I knew were the Grumbleweeds!

This was traditional, first class English hospitality, with a very attentive landlady who served up an amazing full English breakfast and really made you feel welcome.

Having suffered so many charmless, hyperbaric hotels and B&Bs, it was a real pleasure to be made welcome in a B&B where service was superb.

IT’S been a time for reunions in the past week. I was in Newcastle earlier this week where I caught up with Colin Young, who I worked with on the Gulf Daily News in Bahrain. It was the first time we had met since 1989, and it was good to reflect on how our lives have moved on since then.

A week earlier, about 25 former classmates turned up to a school reunion in Ruislip. 

It’s 40 years since we all started school at St Nicholas and St Mary’s Grammar Schools. I still keep in touch with some of those school friends, but for others it was wonderful to be able to meet again for the first time in 32 years.

Social media and Facebook has a lot to be thanked for with rekindling school friendships – it’s also been responsible for a few divorces too. In both cases, these reunions were made possible thanks to social media which reached out through friends and to friends of friends to those who we had lost contact with.

For me, school and Bahrain were very significant parts of my life. I grew up a lot in both places and the experiences - good and bad - were very sobering. That’s why, with the advantage of hindsight, it was a perfect opportunity to share and reflect on those days.

I can vividly remember my first day at Grammar School, sitting in a bleak classroom on the ground floor being told by our class tutor Mrs Broadhead about the need to cover our text books with brown paper, and the punishments we could receive if we broke the school rules.

I’m never one to hark back on the past. Life did look rosier then, but there are certain times in your life when the battles you fought and the experiences you sampled stay with you forever.