Did you ever have a mate at school that you got on with and was a good all round chap? Did he leave
school early because his parents job necessitated a move? Did you think years later that you could just ring him up and say hello like it was quite normal? Well I did!!
Its not quite as I say but, it's near enough the truth, read on, then do it yourself. I DARE YOU!!
So in 1967 at the tender age of 11 I started at the Regis School in Wolverhampton along with many others. One of those others was my mate Enty. Real name Phil Enticott we became friends in a small group of classmates.
Nearly three years later (1970) and Enty's Dad got a new position necessitating a move to Bristol... Enty was gone!
Fast forward to September 2000 and after a period of ill health and redundancy I found myself back at my old school now called the King's CE School employed to manage the computer network. I had flash backs to fights on the playground, daft events on the sports field and in the swimming pool and numerous other little memories came flooding back. Weird or what?!!?
Christmas came and I had a message via the now defunct website "Friends Reunited" that got me back with another long time mate Duncan Keith (that is another blog page or six in itself but I digress) and a seed was sown. Find more old friends, it's fun if they are interested, if they aren't then ok, no worries, it has been a long time and people do change!
Soon "Friends reunited" had taken off and as I worked at the school and word had got around I was asked to organise a school reunion. We had a few over about six months culminating in a big push to make a bigger one. That's when I remembered Enty!
I kid you not... I found him first time in about 30 minutes of trying!
192.com was/is a fantastic tool. Nowadays, you have to pay to use it but back in 2002 you could get a few free goes. I reasoned that with a name like Enticott it should be easy to find him. I knew he had gone to Bristol how hard could it be?!!?
I quickly typed it in and kept the search reasonably wide and success about 12-15 Enticott's came up a few around Bristol one in North Wales the rest down towards Cornwall/Somerset area. Scanning the names and initials I spotted a few P Enticotts one being the one in North Wales! I had to call...
Swiftly dialling the number I waited with baited breath, my heart was actually beating quite quickly, what would I say, what would they say on the other end of the phone?
A ladies voice answered and all I remember was thinking of double glazing calls...
"Hello, my names Nick Walton, I'm trying to contact an old school mate called Philip Enticott who went to the Regis School in Wolverhampton from 67-70, would he be your husband? I'm trying to organise a school reunion and his name has cropped up!"
I cant recall the exact conversation but it was something like "yes, my husband did attend that school shall I get him to call you he isnt here at the moment?"
Within no time at all, I got the call and the rest, as they say is history! RESULT!!!!
The re-union was a great success, I was run off my feet and I saw Enty for all of possibly a quarter of an hour that night!
Fast forward fifteen years to the present day and we have made friends on Facebook, where else?, and recently arranged to meet up. I have a caravan, Enty has a camper, so... we met at a caravan site midway between north wales and Wolverhampton at Cartref! (You can read about the site else where on my blog)
So, how did it go?
Really really well, a bit like when you were a kid and went back after the six weeks holidays...just a bit longer! Our wives got on really well, Enty and I were like two school kids, only older and we had a fantastic weekend together catching up on 47 years of jobs, kids, impending retirement, family losses etc etc!
Are we meeting up again? Definitely!!
So there you have it, think of a mate you have lost touch with and contact them and let me know how you get on! Use the contact page to reach me...
Happy camping!!