Reunions are time for reflecting on the past. The Assiniboia Composite High School graduating classes of 1970 to 1975 had plenty of time for reminiscing at its reunion at Assiniboia’s Prince of Wales Centre on August 4-6.
The reunion proved to be popular. Over 265 past ACHS grads came from across Canada and the U.S., including from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, California, Alabama, Georgia, and the east coast of the U.S.
There were about 25 per cent of the reunion attendees who came from the Assiniboia and south area. The majority of the past ACHS graduates were from B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
Attendees had a chance to reacquaint themselves and catch up on old times at a number of events over the three days. The event started with registration and a social on August 4. The following day on August 5, a group of attendees gathered at the Assiniboia Golf Course for an informal round of golf in the morning.
In the afternoon, the attendees took a walk down memory lane by touring the school. They viewed the school’s collection of graduation photographs, awards and classrooms. Many also took some time to tour the town of Assiniboia and found many changes took place since they last visited such as the building of the Shurniak Art Gallery.
“We haven’t had a reunion of this group in 10 years,” said Marc Topola. On schedule for the reunion in the evening was a dinner, social and dance. As the Assiniboia Composite High School graduates from 47 years ago entered the auditorium, there were tables set up near the entrance with mementoes like old year books, photos, and grad gowns from the day.
There was also a table dedicated to a memoriam of their 60 classmates who passed on since graduation. The dinner included a short program emceed by Paul Topola.
There was a lot of joking about the old days. The supper was catered by 121 Steakhouse and the Assiniboia Bakery. The final day of the reunion included a mid-morning brunch.
The reunion was organized by a volunteer committee of about 15 people led by Marc Topola. The committee received a lot of positive comments about the activities from those at the reunion.
