School reunion message is ‘the more the merrier’
Former Perth Academy pupils to get together at Mcdiarmid Park Trainspotting play actor giving talk
Former pupils of Perth Academy will ‘roll back the years’ at a reunion planned for this summer.
An invitation is extended to anyone linked to their year of school leavers in 1965 to take part in the trip down memory lane at Mcdiarmid Park on Saturday, June 17. It kicks-off at 4pm.
“The more the merrier,” organiser John Mcghie explained yesterday.
The last get-together - half a century after pupils left the hallowed seat of learning in Murray Place - took place at the St Johnstone football stadium in May, 2015.
Further events were pencilled in for a 55th in 2020, but that was hit by the Covid pandemic, and thereafter in 2025.
“This time round, we will be discussing our 60th celebrations as they are only two years away and, at our age, time flies!” added John.
“I don’t get much chance to see former school friends as I have been living in Italy since the 1970s so the easiest way is to organise a reunion and get as many of our former classmates together as possible.
“We were fortunate to have been at Perth Academy when it gave us an opportunity to go on and do something meaningful with our lives, whether locally, nationally or internationally.
“I think we all look back with gratitude at our years there.
“Standards were high - as they should be. Sports were competitive as is life. And friendships were made which have continued and will be strengthened at our reunion.
“We will also remember those who have gone. They were part of us. And we will meet again soon.”
The 2015 celebrations were attended by more than 60 FPS, some travelling from as far afield as the USA, Italy and India, as well as north and south of our borders.
On that occasion, some had renewed acquaintances at a previous reunion a decade earlier at the same Crieff Road venue.
But for others it was the first time to meet up with old school chums for the first time in 50 years.
Anyone who hasn’t already been in touch with John to confirm their attendance on June 17 is asked to do so by e-mail as soon as possible to enable catering arrangements and numbers to be confirmed.
Further details can be obtained from him on: jbmcghie@hotmail.com
A former Perth High School student who went on to act as Renton in a Broadway show version of Trainspotting is returning to the Fair City to give a talk on choosing (an acting) life.
On April 29, actor Andrew Barrett will give a talk in Perth Art Gallery as part of the Soutar Festival of Words (SFW) in Perth. In his words, his is a tale of how a “local boy makes good”.
While Barrett has fearlessly starred as the heroin-taking teen, up to his neck in criminal habits in Leith, he says talking about his own life will be a scary sensation.
“It’ll be me on stage as me, talking about me which I’ve always found terrifying,” he said.
“However, it’s given me a chance to properly write down some of my better adventures: touring refugee camps as a clown in a van with the Flying Seagull project; touring a play across Iraqi Kurdistan in a van with Albinomosquito; touring across the States in a van with Shakespeare & Company; and touring Trainspotting live transatlantically in a pair of skinny jeans with a hangover.”
Andrew’s hour-long talk from 7.30pm is interspersed with “bits of other people’s Scots writing too”.
The Soutar Festival of Words is back for 2023, offering between April 28 and 30 a fantastic programme of readings, performances and conversations with writers, poets and storytellers from Scotland and across the globe.
Live performances are planned in venues across Perth, including Perth Art Gallery and the AK Bell Library. There will also be pop-up performances on Perth High Street, the South Inch and the Waterstones store in Perth.
Hot food will be available at the AK Bell Library and the complete SFW programme is available at www.culturepk.org.uk/soutar23