1971 40 year Medical Reunion
1971 40 Year Medical Reunion- 16-17th September 2011.
Submitted by Margaret Mark
“Our” Year has had a number of reunions; the 10th in Dublin, 20th at the Culloden Hotel, Holywood, 25th in the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle and the 30th at the Shandon Hotel, Donegal. It therefore seemed fitting that the 40th should be held in Belfast at our “Alma Mater”, Queen's University. The date was chosen about 18 months in advance and the reunion hotel, the Radisson Blu situated at the Old Gasworks, Ormeau Road and Great Hall booked. The Alumni Office then sent out a letter to let everyone know the Reunion date and plans. We were set to go.
We were a relatively small year of just over 90 graduates and 63 of us came; with partners numbers topped 100. Ian Morrison, Michael and Pauline Hart nee Reay had travelled from Perth, Australia, Jaswant Vohara, nee Grewel from Kenya and Joe Allen, Ken Arnold, Joel Hurwitz, John Rankin and Michael Goldberger made the trip from Canada. Several also came from England and Scotland.
On Friday morning 16 brave souls played golf at Malone Golf Club in rainy wet weather. This was followed by a convivial lunch. Celebrations began in earnest that evening at the Radisson with an informal buffet. Many participants had decided to stay at the hotel for the weekend which did mean the evening went on longer than was planned! It was lovely to see everyone again; some of the men had less hair and everyone was a bit greyer but really we were all just the same.
John McClure Professor of Histopathology in Manchester chaired the Saturday morning session. Sir John Henry Biggart, Dean of Medicine 1945-1971, made an early appearance courtesy of Joe Allen who had played him in the Dean’s birthday party in 1969. Talks were given by Ian Morrison, Consultant Radiologist, Perth West Australia - Wine, Docs and Crocs; Joel Hurwitz, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of West Ontario - Aging in Canada –patients, doctors or both; Ken Arnold, General practitioner, Thunder Bay Ontario - Lies, damned lies and…?. and Michael Goldberger, General Practitioner, Vancouver – Art, Good Medicine.
Ian has retired to Margaret River and told us about life “down under”. Margaret River is a celebrated wine growing area first planted by Dr John Lagan, a doctor from Omagh. His father had delivered our Chairman in Omagh 65 years ago; the world suddenly seemed a lot smaller. Joel told us that the age of the population in Canada is rising. He illustrated his talk with beautiful slides of Ontario; it looked a good place to grow old. Ken‘s main point was most doctors in Canada work until they are 72. I am not certain if his attempts to lure us to join him at this late stage of our careers were successful. Michael illustrated his talks with some of his own paintings and a number he had borrowed for the day. He had us all laughing telling us how not to make a fortune buying paintings. The lesson was “buy what you like and enjoy it”. Time was pressing so John brought the session to the end with reminiscences of Sir John’s sartorial elegance on Graduation Day, 1971. Dress standards were still high as he illustrated this with pictures of himself and Maurice Savage receiving OBEs from Buckingham Palace.
On Saturday afternoon thirty of us took a coach to the National Trust car park at Divis Mountain. An NT guide gave us a short talk on the area which they had taken over from the army five years ago. We walked quickly two miles in bright sunshine and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the city as far as the Mournes with Scotland in the distance. We did not linger as rain clouds were forming and sure enough we were absolutely soaked on the way back.
Saturday evening was the Gala Dinner at The Great Hall. This was where we had graduated, sat exams and enjoyed BMSA dinners as students. A number of our year had actually been banned after a riotous Rugby dinner in 1968. The venue was much admired particularly by the graduates who had come from afar and had not seen it since the 70’s The food was excellent and the craic mighty. Master of Ceremonies was Dennis Johnston, QUB Prof of Therapeutics. Entertainment during the meal was by Cameoflage, a classically trained singing duo, who nevertheless had us all waving our napkins singing “That’s Amore”. Our invited speaker was Peter Passmore, QUB Professor of Ageing and Geriatric Medicine, who is a colleague of Dennis. He paid tribute to and poked fun at the luminaries in “Our Year” with illustrations both appropriate and inappropriate. Finally Joe Allen and Colin Russell ended the evening with singing – Joe, the Irish song “The Calabar” and Colin “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” and “Goodbye”. We all stood and joined in a rousing Auld Lang Sang. We had enjoyed a wonderful weekend renewing friendships made over 40 years ago and remembering our student days at Queens.
The organisers would like to thank everyone at QUB who assisted with the reunion; their enthusiasm for our event was infectious! We would particularly like to thank Adele McMahon, Development and Alumni Office who organised mailshots, set up a website, organised folders and for whom nothing was too much trouble, Ursula Mitchel, Archive Office, McClay Library, who made available Gown student newspaper from our time at QUB and Glenda O’Hanlon and David McLaughlin at the CDS Unit with their assistance with the Year Book. We would also like to thank Brian Horgan, Hospitality Services Manager, and his staff at the Great Hall. It truly was a “Gala Dinner” at the Great Hall and I don’t think any of us will ever forget it.
Margaret Mark Chris Corkey Dennis Johnston Paul Weir Ken Arnold
Organising committee
Tips for othersthinking of organising a reunion
Set date early
Send out an early notice of intent
Communicate by email
Factor in extras in costing.
Involve QUB from beginning
If you are interested in organising a class reunion please email Adele McMahon, Events & Reunions Officer on a.mcmahon@qub.ac.uk
