On driving through the gates of Tudor House in early November 2023, Alec was overwhelmed by a wonderful feeling of childhood nostalgia. It took him back to the late 1970s, a period during which he spent six formative years of his childhood at Tudor.
Vivid memories came flooding back of boys running, climbing trees, falling over, building cubbies, racing bikes, tinkering in the workshop, trapping rabbits, sailing yachts, getting wet, cold and grubby in the sometimes bleak and damp Southern Highlands climate. They made mischief and while the list could go on, they were above all simply having fun outdoors, just being boys.
His wife and he had taken her parents, Henry and Trish Harrison, back to Tudor for a long-overdue visit. Like Alec, Henry had been the ‘oldest inhabitant’ when he left Tudor House in 1949, a little earlier than when Alec left in 1978, although their childhood memories of Tudor are so similar they might have been shared across the same generation.
It was a wonderful visit back to Tudor with family, giving them all the chance to indulge their wives in memories of the past. What has always amazed Alec is how closely Henry’s and his experiences at Tudor align, despite being separated by nearly 30 years. While the outside world had advanced significantly during that time, the essence of Tudor had remained much the same. Those experiences were undoubtedly foundational for both of them and in Alec’s case have shaped how he has approached life and its many opportunities ever since.
Tudor fostered in Alec a collegiate yet independent and inquisitive spirit that took root as he grew up in this wonderful setting far from home and family, with the comfort of escaping back to a country upbringing on the North Coast of New South Wales during term breaks.
While his son and daughter may not have been able to share those same experiences, Alec hopes he has passed on to them some of the character traits that Tudor and its community nurtured in him. He knows Henry, in his relationship with his family, has done just that and for that he’ll always be grateful.
Just as they did for Henry and Trish, Alec is sure that one day when he is a little older and hopefully a little wiser, Harry and Sammy will bring him back for a nostalgic visit to Tudor.
He’ll look forward to that day.