Lift-Off was wonderful - very memorable. What a wonderful weekend. Although the Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School Homecoming turnout was smaller than the 200th anniversary in 2006. However, the 2011 Lift-Off Homecoming was much more "intimate" and gave us more time to connect with people.

PHOTO CREDIT - CCVS Homecoming

Scarborough - Aug. 3, 2011 - Lift-Off was wonderful - very memorable. What a wonderful weekend. Although the Homecoming turnout was smaller than the 200th anniversary in 2006. However, the 2011 Lift-Off Homecoming was much more "intimate" and gave us more time to connect with people.

These gatherings let us reconnect with all those that we travelled through the sometimes troublesome teens. It must be said it was rocky times for many, especially me - when I came into Grade 9 in 1976. I was a new immigrant from England. I came from a school in rural Sussex consisting of 95 boys into a school of 1200 boys and girls (!) in the downtown metropolis of Cornwall. My face was covered in acne, I wore black rimmed National Health glasses (the glasses that were free in the UK). I also sported "UK braces" on my teeth. As you are aware UK braces have nothing to do with "looks" or cosmetics - they are designed to move one or two teeth so that one can actually chew food. The worst thing was my ridiculous accent and this was the bane of my existence in grade 9 (still is) - whenever I opened my mouth - mixed messages all around, the girls just cooed and giggled - and I had no idea what girls were. The guys just thought I was a freak.

My homeroom was in the Autobody Shop looking out onto 5th St. The teacher -had very little patience with us - and we thought he may have kept a bottle of scotch in his drawer to take the edge off (I guess). Welding torches and homeroom teacher imbibing aside, homeroom was good for me, I had many kind, funny people; Marjorie Vachon, Cathy Lewin, Bobby Lumley, Mike Sullivan & Don Hickey and they were definitely a stabilizing factor for me in grade 9.

It was all pretty rough for me at the start of High School - but things improved as I progressed 'fitfully' through the grades - holy crap I received awful grades. I went to the grade 12 prom with a fellow student and now my now wife (married 25 years) - Barbara Pentinga - and I am proud to say we are still friends with many of the people we went to High School with to this day. Some are very close friends.

When we came back to Cornwall to visit family for Lift-Off in 2010 and bumped into a few 'oldish' CCVS buddies it seemed to us like a mini-reunion. This year the 2011 Homecoming and Lift Off was very special - like last year it was an intimate event. The 2006 200th Reunion event was huge and I barely managed to chat with everyone I could. The 2011 Lift-Off Homecoming was much different in that we were all able to really connect and converse.

One meets countless people throughout a life time and there are some that 'stick' and some that fade away. The ones that fade away do so for various reasons - but mostly because a busy life gets in the way. This Homecoming was a super chance to see the people who faded out of our lives and were back talking with us at the wine and cheese in the gym!

We have a neighbour in Scarborough who we have been close friends with for over 20 years and he is flabbergasted at our seemingly "annual" reunions. I keep reminding him that I have only been to four reunions: 185th in 1991, the "what the heck it's Y2K next year" 1999 reunion, the 200th in 2006 and this past one - 205th in 2011. Come to think of it: four reunions / homecomings in 20 years is pretty excessive!

Pah! It's all a good excuse to reconnect and party in Cornwall. Dang it - CCVS is the Oldest Continuous Running High School in the Province of Ontario! That is reason enough.