GUELPH – “Simple times.”
That’s how former students describe their experiences attending Guelph Township public schools.
Most of the schools had just one or two classrooms, with individual teachers often teaching students in eight different grades at once.
Close bonds formed within these small school houses, and 60 years after six of them closed their doors, a group of former students has arranged a reunion.
Organizers hope people who attended any of the nine Guelph Township one- or two-room public schools, or Marden, Macdonald Consolidated, or College Avenue schools will attend the reunion.
“These old schools are a thing of the past, but they are still remembered by the many students and teachers who experienced that special time in history,” organizers state.
The reunion will take place on June 1 from 1 to 4pm at the Guelph Curling Club (816 Woolwhich St.). Refreshments will be provided. Reunion organizers say “Those who attended the small county schools look back on those days with a fondness that cannot be duplicated.”
This isn’t the first reunion of its sort, with other gatherings for Guelph Township school students taking place in 2017 and 2019.
Barbara Leachman, one of the reunion organizers, said both past reunions were well attended, particularly the first one, with over 200 guests.
And this year, Leachman is hopeful the guests will include her Grade 1 teacher Geraldine Porter, who taught at School Section Number One (S.S. No. 1) from 1952 to 1954.
Leachman was a student at S.S. No. 1 in the 1950s and Macdonald Consolidated for Grades 7 and 8 in about 1960.
“I love history, and being part of this … time in history is special and heartwarming to me,” she said.
The reunions provide a wonderful opportunity to reminisce over shared memories and to get reacquainted with former classmates, Leachman said.
And as a result of past reunions, Leachman has been meeting with some of her former classmates for regular lunches and get-togethers.
During the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, several members of the reunion committee, including Leachman, wrote a book titled The Nine Public Schools of Guelph Township, outlining the schools’ history.
The book will be available for purchase during the reunion.
