The October 19th Rising !!

They are all members of an exclusive club. The first member was Archibald Hardie, expelled from the John Neilson in Nov 14th 1852 for attempted arson at the Oakshaw campus. The last to join was Lauren Campbell, a 6th year prefect who stayed late at school on June 27th 1990...and qualified for membership as soon as she walked out of the Ferguslie gates; the final John Neilson pupil to do so. They are all former pupils of JN - there will be no more. (OK, the names were made up - we were never any good at history, but you get the idea.)

For years no one had seen or heard of them. No more than a handful had been gathered in any one place. But on October 19th 2002 they rose again, descending on Paisley from all over Scotland, the rest of the British Isles and even from Canada, Australia and Kazakstan (!!) in the middle of a glorious autumn weekend.However in the long months preceding, we (the organisers) often thought that we had taken on too much:

We worried that no more than 100 people would turn up, especially at a crisis meeting late- August, when we had sold little more than 70 tickets. We needn't have worried - after a last minute rush, by Saturday Oct 19th we had sold 250 tickets.

We worried about security : how were we to stop the hordes of gatecrashers determined not to pay? We needn't have worried - you all came and formed an orderly queue and those of you who didn't have tickets were only too happy to stump up at the door!

We worried that we would be left with a bill of about £500 each because of the commitments we had made to the Glynhill (Saturday nights in Paisley's premier function suite don't come cheap!!)... but again we needn't have worried. More later......

In fact it was only about 10 minutes before 7.00pm that our worries disappeared when the first guests started trickling in. The trickle soon turned into a flood and quickly the foyer was mobbed with a long queue forming at the registration table.

The invitation specified smart attire, the interpretation being a fine example of Neilsonian eclecticism : dickie bows, dungarees, formal kilts, Hawaiian shirts, kilts, suits with ties, suits without ties, corduroy jackets, ball gowns, t-shirts, tiaras, cropped tops and jeans, sequinned dresses, pashminas, crombies, duffel coats, gaberdines and even an anorak!!!...Suffice to say, you all looked wonderful - glowing with excitement and anticipation of what lay ahead. As the evening got into full swing, the years quickly fell away and so too did the inhibitions! (No doubt helped along the way by a little liquid refreshment!).

Meanwhile, the walls had been decorated with memorabilia, including photos and extracts from previous school magazines by many of those attending. Robert Bonnar had also kindly provided a display of some of the photographs he had taken during his time at the school, many of them amusing shots of his infamous Christmas parties! As the first arrivals filtered into the Hall there were gasps as the guests gazed at the splendour before them, the floor covered in sparkling silver frost and the lantern- lit tables each bearing signposts for individual years. Their eyes were drawn to the garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling.....ok , then, that didn't happen - we've been reading too much Harry Potter- but it felt ALMOST like that!

Some people are good with faces, others with names but most of our memories have been clouded by the fogs of time, so nametags were an essential accessory and thankfully everyone wore them. It was soon obvious that a very basic skill had to be learned - that of engaging in conversation while discreetly clocking your opposite number's name tag then being able to casually drop their name into the conversation --- along the lines of "...and do you know what..(glance at nametag).....Eileen/John/etc/etc... you haven't changed a bit..."

The oldest left the John Neilson in 1936, the youngest in 1990. Some classes were very well represented, others less so - but one of the most pleasing aspects of the evening was the amount of mixing and mingling of the years which took place - something we had hoped would happen. No one left without making at least one or two new acquaintances from outwith their own peer group.

Our own memories of the night are far from vivid and so we are probably least qualified to deliver a reliable report of the facts but, with apologies, here we go :

There was food - a delicious sit down buffet provided somewhat unusually at the start of the night.This was a chance to get everyone seated at tables with their own year group and to share a meal in relative civility, since once the buffet tables were cleared for dancing there was no chance of a quiet moment! The only drawback was there was a lot of chatting to do to catchup on 25 years+ so the band went on slightly later than planned (a gross understatement). At one point we were running over an hour late, but we needn't have worried, because the band, seasoned professionals, quickly moved in and started with a popular number everyone knew, the Gay Gordons, to be followed in quick succession with the first of many Dashing White Sergeants.Soon the dance floor was packed with laughing, swirling, heaving bodies, as long-forgotten gym-hall steps suddenly came flooding back. It was certainly a great way to burn off the calories - and much better fun than the gym! The music was superb and further enhanced by the appearance of Dougie Pincock (another former pupil) and ex-Battlefield Band member, who guested on some numbers with his Cumbrian pipes and flute. Wonderful.

Soon it was time for the raffle, expertly compered by former pupil, Billy Gray.Some old Neilsonians had kindly donated some superb star prizes, including a day out behind the scenes at STV working on a news shoot (donated by Shereen Nanjiani, our very own star presenter), a Rangers football, signed by the whole team and accompanied by a photo of Alex McLeish in the JN team. Alistair Cambell, Managing Director of Bowfield Country Club, meanwhile offered a very appealing full day's health and beauty treat at the spa (for two lucky people - Something the organisers could have done with!), whilst TV chef John Quigley's restaurant, called funnily-enough, Quigley's, and the Glynhill, both donated a meal for two. We also received a bottle of champagne and various bottles of wine from generous and thoughtful attendees on the evening itself. To all of you we are extremely grateful and thank you sincerely once again.

Raffle over, we then switched seamlessly back to Robbie Shepherd's Nightmare's final number of the night in which Dougie Pincock again guested on flute. The floor was filled again. No sooner had the band played the last drum roll than Billy Gray was at the decks getting the disco underway with the Bee Gees Night Fever. Playing to a jam - packed floor he kept the party going well into the wee small hours with some classics (ie songs from the 1970's) and some more current stuff (ie songs from about 1983 on!). One thing about school - it might have taught us how to dance at Ceilidhs, but we never did learn how to strut our funky stuff on the disco floor! It was clearly evident that much had been self taught and there were many fine examples of the different styles still in use. (Guess it's true we ARE all turning into our parents!).

Sadly the evening had to draw to a close with a long awaited rendition of the school song led by Gael McKinnon and sung word perfect by the assembled throng (thanks in some way to song sheets provided by Jack Winch!!), and it was well after 2.30am when the last of the revellers left the Glynhill...those who were going home that is. For some of us lucky enough to have booked an overnight room, the night was still young...and the party continued until around 6am the next day. Needless to say, breakfast was LATE and a rather quiet affair!

We didn't talk to nearly as many of you as we wanted to, and to those we did we could happily have talked for hours.The time just melted away. Our sincerest thanks go everyone who made this possible, ESPECIALLY, all who attended - to those who travelled a long way and those who lived locally - without you there would have been no reunion.

Thanks also to Alan Evans for responding to our e-mails so promptly and for doing all the wonderful work at www.johnneilson.co.uk .Thanks to the teachers who graced us by their presence - Mrs Jessie Scott, Mr & Mrs Climie and of course, the inimitable Robert Bonnar, who also provided invaluable help with the memorabilia section, along with Jack Winch. Craig McLauchlan (and Robert Bonnar again!) also sold tickets in their shops and we are very grateful for their time and energy spent. Thanks to Caroline, Sarah and Jenny for selling the raffle tickets and working on the door. Finally, we would like to thank Kevin Moir for his most generous donation and to all the others who bought tickets as a donation, even although they could not attend.

As a result of your efforts, we are delighted to report the evening raised the wonderful total of £2400 for chosen charities, Save the Children and Children in Distress - Makes all the hard work worthwhile - and what a great way to raise some money!!

Thanks to all of you for making the evening such a success. Hope to see you all - and more of you - at the next one!

Best Wishes from all the organising team,

Anne Storm, Lorna Blain and Kenny Irvine

On a similar note, this Newsletter is intended for anyone who has anything they'd like to communicate to John Neilson people, so please let me know if you'd like to submit an article for inclusion in the next issue.

Website surveys  (Data taken at October 26 2002) :

Visitor survey : where  visitors found about the site

Visitor survey : which school house visitor belongs to

A forthcoming survey will ask where JN site visitors currently reside. I sense much that the ex-JN population is well spread across the civilised world whilst some are still living in Paisley (OOOPS, only joking - no grumpy emails please !!). Seriously, it should be intersting to see how many people still live in the Paisley area, compared with those living more further afield. Watch the homepage for details.

Thank you for supporting the John Neilson web site.

Regards,