They shared the same classrooms in the late 1980s at Châtelet high school. Thirty-five years later, the Terminale B class partly reformed on Saturday. With the meeting place, a place well known to high school students of the time.
« Since we found each other, we have been in contact every day, there is still this bond created 35 years ago “. Mireille Delbar is at the origin of this reunion. She launched the research, helped by a few friends. “ It was my dream », she slips. In just a few days, thanks to the “magic” of the Internet, she had found her 31 classmates from the First and Final Years.
« It's more than a class, it's a family “. Besides, they couldn't wait. The first reunion took place at the village hall of Saint-Michel-sur-Ternoise on October 30, 2021. The entire class (within a few units) was then reconstituted, around a few former teachers and Claude Devaux, censor at the time – equivalent to the assistant principal – who would become high school principal. They then said they would see each other in five years.
“Only” three years later, there were 16 of them, surrounded by their spouses, at the meeting. And the location of this meeting with their past owed nothing to chance. Mireille Delbar, Bruno Tellier, Laëtitia Gaillard and Christina Huleux-Fort, the quartet at the helm, had chosen an eminently symbolic location: Chez Bacot. The café-restaurant has seen generations of high school students pass by. “ It was our headquarters. We sent a scout to find out if the way was clear », remembers Mireille, amused. “ We wanted to come back here », adds Bruno Tellier.
If 80% of the veterans remained in the Ternois or in the region, some did not hesitate to travel several hundred kilometers. “ We have around ten expatriates », smiles Mireille. The furthest away for this family reunion was Stéphane, living in the Massif Central. “ It's great, I'm always delighted to find them, it's thanks to them that I studied “. Pleasure shared by Anne, Nathalie and Emmanuelle who recalled good memories. “ It's a return to the sources, the roots are important. What's more in today's world “, they confided.
Once again, two teachers were there: Marc Faye, who taught economics as well as Brigitte Pépin, mathematics teacher and young retiree who had some of the children of these “elders” in class. “ It always warms the heart to see how everyone found their way and how high school training contributed to it. “, slipped their former main teacher. “ This is comforting for National Education and public service “. A little message in passing… “ It was a good group, things went well in class. », recalls their maths teacher amusedly. “ These are good memories with them“. Good memories are what Christina highlighted, in a short note, concluded with this quote: “True friendship is not being inseparable, but it is being separated and nothing has changed.”
