16 former Eltham classmates celebrated their 60th birthdays with a night-to-remember.   2015

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16 former Eltham Primary School students gathered for the first time in 48 years at The Plymouth hotel, New Plymouth, on Friday July 10 to reminisce and rebuild old friends.

Event organiser Max Whitehead described re-meeting class-mates he hadn’t seen since he was 12 years-old as a magical experience.

“We all started together at 5 years of age. In those days, people were more consistent and they didn’t move around as much as they do today,” he said.

“Most of us were consistent with the same people in the same class.”

He caught up with an old friend, Russell Joblin, during 2014 and the idea of a reunion was born.

Social media and email were handy tools that made finding and contacting former friends easy. Two classmates travelled from Australia and Russia to attend the night-long event.

“It was a great feeling of warmth, it was like seeing a long lost family member,” he said.

“We felt really bonded and close, the atmosphere was really lovely.”

The group are planning to repeat the event in five years time, for their 65th birthdays but are looking for a few classmates they have been unable to locate.

On the list of missing classmates are the names Clinton Mackay, Neil Mumby, Doug Gallie, Neil Thethaway, Grant Coward, Stephen Hargreaves, John Peters and Alen Skelton.

“The most important thing, it wasn’t the buildings, it was the people and to see how we’d turned out. The curiosity was huge,” said Whitehead.

“You know, you had the best looking girl and the best looking guy in your classroom, you wanted to see what had happened to them in the last 48 years or however long it has been.”