Nowadays, I'm the mother of four kids - two severely autistic and multiply handicapped - and two younger ones after a big gap (same marriage!). Lachie, above, is the delightful, little accident I had at 47...so I've retired from nursing/midwifery. (Lachie has now been diagnosed on the autism spectrum so we have a RARE trifecta...... fortunately, we have one 'normal' daughter so I have some balance in my life.)

Sometimes wonder how I manage to produce a newsletter and website! It's important to remember that each of us here at CHESS are volunteers.

I confess that I was the dorkiest daggiest kid at CHS during my stay (1968 -1971) - yes, the ugly kid with the crooked fringe in Form 3A, 1968 is me! (I think we all improved after that awkward gangly stage.)

I enjoyed being at the school and as time goes by, I have truly become very fond of the place...and memories of wonderful friends there. I visit the school often now and wish I could turn the clock back 30 years so I could be a kid again; playing up in Mr Glenn's maths class and distracting Bethany or checking out the boys at lunchtime on the school oval (with the other girls!)

Playing violin was my bete noir - I dreaded school orchestra recitals every Monday morning with Mr Trevare. Jon, a Canadian student, was very good in First Violins but he wasn't loud enough to drown out my fluffed squeaks. The best thing about the orchestra was not the cacophony we produced but being in a big, friendly group of amateurs. When I discovered that I was getting a double-chin from violin, I took on clarinet and successfully ruined the Hungarian Dance with my dry reed squeaking. I deliberately sang the base (second violin line) during the National Anthem for years - that was the limit of my non-conformism.

. When I was there, the early 70s were very tumultuous, with the school divided over the Vietnam War, kids AWOL at the Moratorium Marches, divisions within the SRC Rag newsletter and major upheavals within the education system with teacher shortages. I can remember something like 260 teachers being shipped out from Canada to cover the shortfall at one stage.

The quality of the teachers was diverse - we won't talk about certain Geography classes - I didn't do the pure science stream, but mixture of maths and humanities. I was so lucky to have Tim Sullivan with Social Studies (politics) as he gave me a very inquiring mind when it came to questioning philosophies and dogma. I have him to thank for my habit of reading the AGE right through to the political comment pages! The boys loved Tim because he drove a rare (bright yellow) Lotus sportscar - which they kindly carried (I think up the front steps of the school one day). Miss Hardingham, apart from being a fashion trendsetter, was fantastic with her Biology classes...I went on to nursing. I can remember dissecting sheeps' lungs one day and we were supposed to insert a straw into a bronchial tube and exhale to inflate the lung - someone did the reverse and ingested a clot. That cracked us up.

It was a great experience and I feel lucky to have been in the right place at the right time.

Regarding Chessmoves, I would like you all to know that I really enjoy doing the website, because I believe, along with Bernard (CHESS President), that we need to get photos/memories up for everyone, rather than have them sitting, unaccessed, in the archives. Also, it's fantastic to have the site function as a permanent connection between you and CHS. If there are any things that you would like to see featured on the site, please email me. I have plans for starting sections on Exchange Students, Drama, Interstate contacts/groups....in time.

All the best and I hope you enjoy what you see.....

Visit my personal website if you want to learn more about autism and my homelife...

You'll find it at http://users.bigpond.net.au/landie/