50-year reunion to mark the Sunderland school trip which got caught up in Greek revolution

Fifteen staff and pupils from Thornhill School made the trip from Sunderland to Greece in a single van five decades ago.

But the dream trip turned into something of a nightmare when the party arrived in Athens in the middle of the overthrow of the military government which had had ruled the country since 1967.

Now members of that original group have travelled from as far afield as Hong Kong for a 50-year reunion at what is now Thornhill Academy.

David Thompson was a 29-year-old teacher back in the summer of ‘74.

“We travelled all the way down there in the trusty ‘Vardy van’, rented to us by Peter Vardy as he was then, Sir Peter Vardy now,” he recalled.

“We had eight tents, two to a tent, and one suitcase between two people, because all the stuff was on the roof.

“By the time we had gone two or three stops, it was well-rehearsed.”

Soundtracked by Wings’ Band on the Run (’the only one everyone could agree on’), the trip to Athens and back took 32 days and covered 4,000 miles through nine countries.

Such a trip posed its own challenges in the days before the European single currency: “We went down the Rhine valley, crossing the Alps twice, alongside the Yugoslavian Adriatic coast, across the sea to Italy,” said David.

“We had to take nine currencies because the last thing we wanted to do when we got anywhere was to have to change money, so we had a lot of cash with us. It was a risk but it was the best thing to do.

“We visited some fascinating places en route, including Munich, Innsbruck, Venice, Naples, Rome, Geneva, and Versailles.

“But the most momentous events occurred in Greece itself. We arrived at the border near Skopje at the time Turkey had invaded Cyprus, resulting in Greece mobilising its forces and threatening military action.

“Nothing dramatic actually materialised so we proceeded south to Athens, the motorway busy with army vehicles. Further excitement awaited us in the capital city itself as the government was overthrown amidst jubilant celebration in the streets.”

But with the UK blamed for its role in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus which had precipitated the revolt, it was not the best time to be a British tourist: “Less joyful was the stoning of the British Embassy, causing us to keep our heads down as we visited places like the Acropolis,” recalled David.

The group decided to head for the coast and the village of Tolon: “It is very touristy now but there was not much there at the time,” David remembered.

“The ground was so hard we couldn’t get the tent pegs in but they had a bar and a little cafe which had a flat roof, so we all slept up there.”

Fifty years on, the group remains in touch and Saturday’s reunion was capped off with dinner at the Grand Hotel in Seaburn: “It really was great,” said David.

“We have a fantastic connection - we are all still friends, all still in contact after 50 years.”