Celebrating 45 years
On February 8th, 2020, twenty-nine members of our set gathered at Barts to celebrate 45 years since we began our training.
We gathered in the lovely light and airy Atrium in what was when we were there George V block. The Hospital Guild opened the gift shop for us and while our friends arrived from around the country (and Guernsey!) we made our purchases and drank coffee in the second-floor café before venturing into the square for the statutory photograph by the fountain! The square and surrounding buildings looked so clean and pristine yet somehow still felt so familiar and homely in a funny kind of way!
We then went out of the Henry VIII gate and across to Carluccio’s. We had booked the back of the restaurant and we were served a fork buffet of various Italian dishes which just seemed to keep coming for most of the afternoon; some of us also enjoyed tea and cake later, not leaving until around 7pm! The food was delicious, the staff very attentive and it was great value for money. We would thoroughly recommend it and will be booking in for our next reunion!
The afternoon was full of reminiscing and laughter, everyone mingling and sharing news and photographs, finding out about those who were missing this time. It was lovely to have Wendy Pollard, one of our tutors, with us too, though we did miss seeing Glenys Tickle and Margaret Cartwright this time. We have been meeting every 5 years but several people expressed a wish to meet more frequently so we probably won’t wait 5 years until the next gathering.
One of our Set sent me an email afterwards and I think this quote from it sums up our time together very well:
“It was a fabulous day. So good to see everyone and catch up with their news. It always impresses me how easy the conversation is. The years melt away. We may look a bit older (but only a bit) however the characters and personalities remain the same. What strong friendships we made all those years ago. I think we were truly blessed in our set to have such a lovely group of girls. Truly blessed indeed, with our set, our tutors and the privilege of such a wonderful training at such a wonderful Hospital.”
Lesina Ashfield (Née Mee)
