1984

This photo was taken on my very first day at Bosworth College, Desford, Leicestershire. I have a vague memory of being in the school hall waiting for it to be taken, with all the other newcomers. Also remember feeling stressed out as this new school was a good distance from home, compared to my previous college Winstanley, which I could work to from where I lived.

Suddenly I was at this place next to a village in the middle of the countryside, where my only way of going to and from it was via bus. 5 miles seemed a long way when I was 14. In those days things were very different.

Fast foward 13 years and I had moved to France. Over the years I had been in contact with a fellow pupil from the college called John Winfield. Although he was there about 12 years before me. Like me, he was living in Europe, in Catania on Sicily (later he moved to Germany). About 10 years later, we started the Winstanley & Bosworth College Reunion group on Flickr with a fellow ex pupil, Wendy Johnson. Like me Wendy was living in France at the time, down south.

Sadly in 2021, John passed away. 

As I'm now back on Flickr with a pro subscription, I happened to find our old group. It had been marked as inactive. The good thing about Flickr help, is that you can apply to them to take on an inactive group, provided you are a member and were involved in it. So they've let me take over the group, which is now called Winstanley & Bosworth College Memories. The idea being that photos taken during our time at either college can be shared there.