Otago Boys’ High School celebrated 150 years of its hostel at the weekend.
Although the celebration had been delayed two years due to Covid-19, about 350 people attended the reunion.
The oldest attendee was 89-year-old Colin Pearce, of Clinton, who first attended the hostel in 1947.
He said the reunion was "very good", although he was the only one of his decade attending and there were none of his old school mates to talk to.
"They’re all gone ... I’m a bit lonely actually," Mr Pearce said.
One other old boy of his generation, Morris O’Connor, had been scheduled to attend but had got Covid-19 shortly before the big day.
Before he attended the hostel, they had attended primary school together in Clinton and had been together for 64 years.
The old boarders had been to visit the new hostel in Melrose St, built in 1974, which was quite foreign to them, Mr Pearce said.
At the old hostel, now demolished, young boarders had at first slept on "freezing" open balconies, which had screens they could pull up when it snowed, until they were old enough to move to the senior dorms, he said.
When Mr Pearce had been a pupil, the pupils had marked their belts with notches for each time were punished with the strap or the cane.
Mr Pearce left the school with 21.
"I didn’t think I was particularly bad," he said.
One of the antics that could have earned Mr Pearce a caning was when he and his friends would send a "volunteer" down to the pie cart in Dowling St.
They loaded up with hot pies and brought them back to the hostel to share.
He always enjoyed the pies and never remembered being caught when it was his turn to go, Mr Pearce said.
Rector Richard Hall said there had been "tremendous spirit" at the reunion, with lots of old boys catching up for the first time in decades.
There had been a lot of banter and laughter as a result.
Altogether, the event had been a lot of fun, Mr Hall said.
