Written by Angela Brady.

We had a great turn out with 23 past pupils from our HCK class of 1975 who gathered at the school as part of our 50 year celebrations since leaving HCK.

Our class were close and many have kept in touch over the years. Our previous gathering was during Covid in March 2021 which brought 33 of us together on Zoom, the call was about 3 hours long - as each of us updated what we were doing and where we were living in the world. People are living in Australia, Canada, USA, France, UK and Ireland. We had a great team tracking everyone down.

Our class have kept in touch and the network of friends is very special to us. During our school visit we remembered absent friends in the chapel and signed the book of condolences for our 6 class mates no longer with us. We sang a favourite song "Be Thou My Vision” - as if Sr Madeline was still with us. We had some enthusiastic school girls from 5th year show us around the 'new school grounds' in particular the sports/hockey facilities as many of us played on some great hockey and tennis teams led by Ms Buckley. It was funny to observe that the pupils were also studying the same Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet" and “Macbeth” plays as we did and the uniform was almost the same, - plus ça change. We marked the occasion with a small glass brooch with the HCK scarf colours for each of us,.

The new science labs looked fab and Ms Hegarty would have loved them too. The art facilities were also great and we well remember Ms Doherty our art teacher who encouraged collaborative art works as we drew huge murals in the art room. Our class produced many successful artist still working today, as well as writers, scientists, doctors, designers, teachers and people who work in various businesses. We reflected on the fact that HCK gave us a great start to our careers, where we were persuaded to pursue our dreams - still evident in the school today - and the power of the network.

Following our visit, the next day we had a special lunch at The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dunlaoire - which lasted 10 hours! We have decided not to wait another 5 or 10 years before we all gather together again, so we agreed that every 2 years we will meet for lunch on International Womens Day in March and continue to talk about our past, present and futures.