West Mark School, Petersfield - reunion

[fay66]

Hi to all ex WestMark souls have a nice xmas and a happy 2016 to you all.

May our stocks of Winter green, Algipan and Piroxicam never dry up.

Brian P

Hi Brian/Jilly, and all my fellow ex pupils
A Happy Christmas from me too.
Sorry I've done very little with the extra information that I obtained at the Reunion, and intended sending out to everyone, once sorted & worked on.
Besides having a PC that has a mind of it's own, that won't work with my old printer that it previously worked with OK, nor will it allow me to add my new printer
So I'm having to do everything on my 10" notebook, which is driving me crazy, as the screen is too small for my ancient eyes now!
As soon as I can afford to change my main pc I will, but struggling at the moment, and just to add to the fun I'm having a lot of problems with Rheumatoid Arthritis, mainly  affecting my hands.
Apart from that I'm ok

I've had a bit of worrying news from Vaughan Clarke, the Parish councillor who was a great help to us with the reunion; it seems that Mr Evans diary, from which I copied a few pages and put on the CD, as well as on the display, is being withdrawn by the Winchester Archives and it will be unavailable to view, due to it naming people who are/maybe still alive, I had intended going back to the Archives and copying the remainder but that will no longer be possible, yet another example of stupid rules devised by Jobs worths.

Brian H.

[ramsey barber]

Hi Guys and Gals
Thanks for the warning about Piroxicam but it's a bit late .
I was blaming the VIAGRA.
To all Ex WESTMARKERS I wish you all a MERRY XMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ramsey Barber

[fay66]

Hi Guys and Gals
Thanks for the warning about Piroxicam but it's a bit late .
I was blaming the VIAGRA.
To all Ex WESTMARKERS I wish you all a MERRY XMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ramsey Barber

Happy Christmas Rams.
The little blue pill strikes again

Brian H

[fay66]

Hi Guys and Gals
Thanks for the warning about Piroxicam but it's a bit late .
I was blaming the VIAGRA.
To all Ex WESTMARKERS I wish you all a MERRY XMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ramsey Barber

Happy Christmas Rams.
The little blue pill strikes again

Brian H

Hi Everyone,
I don't know how many of you are aware but FriendsReunited is closing down which is a bit of a disaster considering how much of the Westmark chat and connections are on there.
If everyone would care to let me have their email address if I don't already have it, and confirm their address if I do, then I'll act as a contact point, ^(*)
I've just sent copies of the CD I produced for the reunion to Donald Ward in Sweden, Doug Smith in the USA and Lily Pipe in australia.
Unfortunately I still haven't managed to sort out the additional information that came to light at the reunion, partly due to my hands not working very well, and partly to a stroppy PC, fear not I will get around to it.
I had some bad news from Vaughan Clarke in that the Winchester Archives have withdrawn Mr Evans Diary and put it out of reach for 50 years, so bang goes the chance of me ever being able to photo the remainder, once again some beauracrat has decided it's in the public interest due to some of those in the diary still being alive.
Hope you are all keeping well.
Brian H. 

(*) Moderator Comment: e-mail and telephone number removed in accordance with RootsChat policy, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.

[ramsey barber]

Hi guys and gals,
I'e just sent an E mail to FRIENDS REUNITED asking why the site is closing and when, perhaps if we all do the same perhaps they might reconsider.
RAMS

[fay66]

hI rAMS,
Waste of time.
The original owners sold the site for £6 Million a number of years ago, the new owners changed and mucked it about so much it's gone downhill, the original owners were asked to take it back and see if they could revive the site but they reckon it can't be done, so they are closing it down, they are starting their own site again but the format will be nothing like friends was, as they say what with facebook etc these days there isn't the market.
I emailed them with a number of questions but I haven't had a reply and I don't think anyone else will have better luck than I have, one thing I have done is copy all the correspondence off of Friends reunited so at least we won't lose that, as I said I'd act as go between but without emails or phones it's not possible.

Best Regards
To all
Brian H

[fay66]

Wishing Everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.
My apologies for not having  yet put together another CD of the Reunion itself and extra information supplied by the family, but I hope to get on with it early in the New Year.
Best Wishes
Brian.

[robspratt]

Dear Brian,

I hope I find you well.

My mum is now 82 and went to West Mark School herself many years ago. She has nothing but the fondest memories of her time there. Unfortunately I have only just become aware of the reunion that you organised otherwise I'm sure she would loved to have taken part.

I have read through all the posts on this thread and see that a DVD (and possibly a CD of the reunion) might be available. If so, I wonder how I might get a copy? It would be so wonderful to be able to show such things to my mum while there is still time for her to be able to appreciate and enjoy them. Of course, I would be happy to pay any reasonable costs.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer with this request. I look forward to hearing back from you as soon as possible.

All the very best,

Rob

[fay66]

Hello Rob,
Sorry we were unable to contact your mum at the time, we tracked as many old pupils down on Friends Reunited as possible, but unfortunately mid stream they decided to sell up, so we lost that point of contact, some others came through old pupils still in touch after all these years.
Finding people wasn't helped in as much as most of the ladies are now known by their married names, I assume Mum uses her married name? if so can you please let me know her maiden and Christian name as she would have been known at the time, the names of any contemporaries and friends, as with a bit of luck we might have someone who knew Mum.
If Mum has any photos of the time copies would be most welcome by email.
Do you know where she lived and what school she went to?
To answer your original question, no problem as I can burn you a CD, also on there is a couple of the school magazines.
Jilly who has also been a great help is a lot younger than any of us, but is unique in that she lived there with her family after the school closed in her younger days, so obviously she has a great connection as well as many happy memories. .
Jilly also chased up the local papers, and looked in the library local history collection for information, as well as other sources, and was of considerable help, especially living close to Petersfield.
It was a very moving reunion, and we even had one of the ladies who lives in Australia, join us.
But I was also contacted by 2 ex pupils who made a new life in Canada, and another lady in Australia, unfortunately none could join us for the reunion, but I met one of the Canadian ladies a couple of month later, when she came over for a pre booked reunion with her half brother, about 10 miles from where I live!
If you let me have your contact details to my email, bhiltonlancia@btinternet.com we can then discuss further.
Many thanks for contacting me, I've just heard that we lost Mike Pitson, who was another of the organisers, about a month ago.
I shall be 81 in a couple of weeks time, so we're all very much of an age!
Kind Regards
Brian