A retired teacher from County Durham has reminisced on the 50th anniversary of an adventure-of-a-lifetime at a reunion with former colleagues and students.
Half-a-century after 11 sixth-formers from Thornhill School, Sunderland, embarked on their Greek Odyssey, shepherded by three teaching staff and one of their wives, the group has staged what may prove to be a final get-together.
Bill Scott, from Beamish, was, one of the three teachers, along with Dave Thompson and Alton Pickersgill, and Mr Thompson’s wife, Margaret, as cook and female ‘chaperone’, who led the school leavers on a 32-day, 4,000-mile round trip to Athens in a hired minibus, in July 1974.
A joint venture between the school’s history and geography departments, it was an ambitious follow-up to a trip to Iceland two years earlier.
(Image: Bill Scott)
Challenging as the itinerary appeared, little did the party know when setting off from the North East of the events they would encounter upon their arrival in Greece.
As they reached the border from the former Yugoslavia in a pre-internet era, they learned there was a civil emergency in Greece, which was under martial law as the ruling right-wing military junta, known as The Regimes of the Colonels, was under threat of being overthrown.
It also coincided with the Turkish invasion of the heavily Greek-occupied island of Cyprus, leading to fears of a full-scale war.
The now 77-year-old former learning support specialist said the outward journey passed without too many problems, with the party oblivious of the potentially powder-keg environment they may encounter in Greece.
“When we got to Skopje (in neighbouring North Macedonia) we learned on the news that there was an emergency situation in Greece and martial law was in place.
“Greece was on a war footing because of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and we were told the petrol stations had been commandeered by the Greek army.
“The advice was not to go in (to Greece).
“Looking back, I don’t think it would happen now, but we had a decision to make and we had a vote.
“Everyone voted to go on, having got that far, and so we went on.
“When we got to Athens, I remember specifically seeing a convoy of tanks.
“On the first or second night the colonels, who had been in power, were overthrown and it was mayhem.
“On the evening we were going for a meal at a typical taverna, near the Parthenon, and we didn’t know what had happened.
“But you couldn’t move for people and we had the van windows down.
“Someone leaned into the van shouting, ‘freedom’, and so it turned out that we were there amid a revolution.
“In the middle of the square, we were surrounded by thousands of people.
“It was a joyous occasion.
“We went to the British Embassy and got petrol tokens and we were able to go on to southern Greece.”
The return journey also had its moments as, having taken a ferry from Greece to Italy, the minibus broke down in Rome and had to be towed away.
Despite language difficulties, a new distributor cap was fitted and the van made it back to the UK via hovercraft from France.
(Image: Bill Scott)
Mr Scott recalls that on their safe return to Sunderland, parents were there to greet their sons and daughters, everyone said their farewells, and that was the last many saw of each other until a 40th anniversary reunion, in 2014.
With the ex-teaching staff now nearing their 80s and the former pupils in their late 60s, it was decided to repeat the reunion this month, as it may be the last opportunity for such a get-together.
Nine members of the Class of 74 made it for the reunion, including one, Barry Goodridge, from Hong Kong, and others from various parts of the UK.
They were given a tour of the school, now Thornhill Academy, which several had not set foot in since leaving 50 years ago, before reminiscing at a garden party at Mr Pickersgill’s home in Houghton-le-Spring.
(Image: Bill Scott)
The re-union was rounded off with an evening meal at hotel in Sunderland, where many of the group stayed overnight, before all departed for potentially the last time, the following morning.
(Image: The Northern Echo)
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Mr Scott said: “Looking back, it was a pretty amazing journey, and I’m sure it would not be contemplated these days.
“But, 15 people made it back intact after 4,000 miles and 32 days in a minibus with just two pressure cookers and we weren’t even allowed air beds.
“It was a fantastic thing to experience.”