The story so far

After a ten year reunion on campus back in July 1996 I agreed to co-ordinate another event a decade later. In autumn 2005 a few of us discussed possible dates. Sarah Coyne, Jerry Gardner, Jackie Stone, Helen Williams and I settled on Saturday July 15th because it falls before the main school holidays (and after the conclusion of the World Cup). I then checked this date with the University, and confirmed that the alumni magazine would publish the news that we were planning such an event. An entry in the magazine was duly published and generated interest from a number of former classmates in November and December 2005.

Over the past three days I have been tracking down the contact details of our cohort using old data that we collected back in 1996, some new data from the University, the FriendsReunited site, Google and bt.com. There are 90 of us in total. I believe that I have clues as to the whereabouts of all but three people. The next step is for us to ensure that everyone knows that the event is taking place on Saturday 15th July so that anyone who wants to has the opportunity of joining us on the day.

Once we have numbers of those interested I will book a venue for lunch. As well as agreeing the date, we have decided that the day will take a similar format to 1996:

• we meet for lunch at a venue on campus;
• partners are welcome to come along;
• it will be an adults-only event (with an exception made for nursing infants);
• nothing official will be laid on for the evening - although it is expected that a number of us will want to spend it together;
• we will arrange a special rate at a Birmingham hotel for those staying overnight in the city.

All offers of help with the organisation of the event will be gratefully accepted!

When we were very young
Here we are outside the Main Library of the University of Birmingham on June 12 1986 immediately after the Constant & Musset paper. Almost 20 years later I have been charged with marshalling the same cohort of people to replicate the pose on Saturday 15 July 2006. Will this work? Fingers crossed... (If you're wondering, I'm the one in the dark green jumper third from the left in the front row.)