The Class of ’81 held its reunion in Fort Lauderdale, FL during the October 14th -16th weekend.

The reunion consisted of three events:

1. An informal get together on the evening of Friday, 14th at Joy’s Roti Delight in Lauderhill, FL
2. A formal banquet and award ceremony at Luxurious Banquet Hall in Lauderhill, FL on the evening of October 15th
3. A fun day in the park held at Markham Park in Sunrise, FL on Sunday, October 16th.

Principal Dave Myrie and Fortis stalwart Mr. Audley Hewett and their lovely wives were specially invited guests at the formal banquet and attended the fun day at Markham Park.

The reunion honored members of the class of ‘81 who were members of the championship winning basketball, cricket and football teams of 1981.

For Football, the honorees were: Maurice Borrows, Robert Mowatt, Cornel McKenzie, Patrick Taylor, Mark Johnson, Lionel Dillon, Ronald McKenzie, Conrad White, Paul McDonald, Hugh Turner, Cornel Spence and Christopher Reece (deceased).
For Cricket: Athol Holness, Lance White, Victor Aldin, Dave Bulli-no, Terry Brown, Noel Cousins,, Anthony Bryan, and Mark Johnson.

Basketball: Mark Green, Ansel Waters, Brian Gray, Derrick Peart, Christopher Hasfal, Paul Saunders, and Michael Kennedy.

Over 50 members of class of ’81 and their significant others were in attendance including  
Robert, Bishop, Maurice Borrows, Alton Bailey, Anthony Barrett, Athol Holness, Billy Reeves, Carlton Holness, Cecil Hinds, Cleon March, Cliff Williams, Conrad Smith, Cornel McKenzie, Craig Hinds, David Andrews, David Clough, Denzil Hammond, Derrick Peart , Dwight Whilby, Earl Forbes, Everton Grant, Everton Wilson, George Thomas, Howard Ducram, Hugh Turner, Ian Vaz, Ian Wilkinson, Lionel Dillon Llewelyn Harmitt, Mark Cooper, Mark Green, Mark Johnson, Marlon Moss, Michael Kennedy, Munee Ramharrack, Neil Picart, Neville Dixon, Nicholas Foster, Noel Cousins, Norman Wallace, Paul Haughton, Philip Russell, Richard Chong, Seymour Douglas, Steven Davis, Terol Lyn, Tony Smith, Victor Aldin, Wayne Golding, William Mason, Devon Anderson, and Rohan Harper.

Net proceeds of the reunion are being donated to the school; preparations are under way for a presentation ceremony at the school.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN AND WHAT HELPED?

1. Since April 2017, Class of ’81 has had a WhatsApp group currently consisting of about 130 members with approximately 75 active members. In addition, the group has contact information for more than 200 members. This made it easy to reach out to members as well as share information during the planning process and afterwards.
2. A Planning Committee is vital. Even though it is called a planning committee a better title would be “Plan and Do the Work Committee” because it was also the committee doing the actual execution.
3. To maximize the effectiveness of the committee, planning meetings started in late April with weekly meetings being held until the week before the event.  It was also useful to have specific roles for each member, we would have liked to have assigned the roles earlier but this is how it played out: Mark Johnson and his family did a phenomenal amount of work in in organizing catering, decoration of the banquet hall, the bar and the informal events, Ian Wilkinson provided detailed guidance on program planning, logistics and also acted as MC for the banquet,  Seymour Douglas led the planning committee meetings and facilitated the plaques and backdrop for banquet, Headley Reeves provided logistics guidance, and was key player in organizing the Canadian contingent who attended, Wayne Golding provided a lot of assistance in organizing travel and gifts for the special guests as well as arranging for hotel accommodation for members. Additionally, he also served as MC for the banquet. Norman Wallace managed the layout and seating plan for the banquet and provided planning guidance on logistics, Victor Aldin provided financial planning and tracking as Treasurer and acted as gateman to facilitate late payments. Nicholas Foster was a force of nature in doing reach out and repeated calls to classmate to encourage attendance and early payments. Dave Lemard provided ongoing counsel on planning but was unable to attend due to the death in the family. Maurice Borrows made great contributions in identifying the right honorees. Andrew Jones, another classmate provided valuable assistance in the design of the promotional graphics.
4. Lessons Learned - i) Accountability partners  so that each member of planning committee has assistance in checking and executing tasks, ii)Planning needs to stay positive in face of detractors, iii)Planning  Committee needs to be inclusive so that each member feels heard,  iv) Fun- planning should be fun, v) Teamwork is vital, vi)  Wider class group needs to be engaged early and frequently, vii) Planning Committee should allocate each member’s responsibilities earlier, viii) Management of flow at venue and floor could be improved make seamless (introduction of guests, honorees) -rehearsal of flow might also assist in smoothing flow and x) If possible, earlier collections of funds form attendees.
5. The Committee voted that the next major reunion event will be in 2026 which will mark the 50th year milestone of class of 81 entering the school. Smaller “Champs” meetups can be planned.
6. Official photographs from the events are here: https://home.mycloud.com/public/fed4d194-1724-46c4-bcf3-2e715c81bdec/folders/a3dnmin36zoqjcvjv2dgvomn  
7. The video from the award ceremony is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXOUo9oEE4
8. The program for the Award Ceremony

Class of ’81