the most remarkable years

We didn't realise it at the time, but 1968 and 69 were two of the most remarkable years in recent history.

 

While you were all getting on with the serious business of being educated and discovering boys, Neil Armstrong uttered his famous words as he became the first man to walk on the moon; the Vietnam War was at its height and the anti-war movement raged across the world fed by incidents like the notorious massacre of civilians at My Lai by US troops; Martin Luther King was assassinated, and black American athletes raised the black power salute at the Olympic Games in Mexico; Robert Kennedy was assassinated, removing a possible heir to the Camelot his brother had created, and leaving the way open to Richard Nixon.

 

Men's hair was long; women's skirts were short; trouser legs were wide; TV was black and white; the first Boeing 747 and the first Concorde took to the air; the first Big Mac went on sale; the first ATM went into service; and while you were all banging away on typewriters, the US military invented the Internet and someone invented the microprocessor, two things which would allow the computer revolution to occur and change our world for ever.

 

1968 was also the year when 400,000 popular music fans flocked to Woodstock to hear the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who. We also listened to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and The Bee Gees, and on TV, both Sesame Street and Monty Python appeared for the first time, both superb examples of the creative boom of the time.

 

Addiction was limited to alcohol, doctors made house calls, mums baked cakes, families still ate meals together, and people were polite and respectful. The fact that Johnnie Farnham had a hit song with Sadie the Cleaning Lady really says it all – it was altogether a kinder, simpler and gentler time.

 

And I think it's because of those values we all shared back that we're here tonight. You're not here to shout to the world about what you have achieved in the 40  years since you shared a classroom; you're here to celebrate the friendships that were forged in those days in the convent by the river and in the new school which we were all so excited to move into. 

 

Judith Anderson