A Day of Remembrance

Tuesday 18 June, 2019

Wednesday 5 June 2019 was Jersey Day, a sacred annual event for our community. Each year, on a nominated day close to the June long weekend, Secondary School girls are invited to wear their favourite jersey for the price of a gold coin donation. Our Boarders become Jersey Day ambassadors, conveying the significance of the day to others, managing the collection of donations and decorating the Boarding Houses with a chain of jerseys tied together at the sleeves.

Jersey Day is a day of remembrance; a celebration of the lives and an acknowledgement of the loss of three former boarders, Alanda Clark, Jane Gay and Prudence Papworth, who were travelling home for the long weekend in 1993 when their plane crashed on a hill just outside Young. Donations collected on Jersey Day contribute to a Boarding Scholarship in their names.

You don’t need to be a Boarding family to appreciate the devastation felt by our community following the untimely death of these young girls, who had their whole lives ahead of them. Boarders, Day girls, parents, families, staff and council members who were present at the time still vividly recall the shock, disbelief and months of grief that followed the tragedy, 26 years ago. The lowered flag, the tears and the haunting silence across the usually buzzing campus remain etched in their memories forever.

We cannot for one minute, however, imagine the ongoing pain and sorrow endured by the girls’ families and loved ones.

What we can do is remember Alanda, Jane and Prudence and tell their stories so that ensuing generations of Pymble girls know their names, who they are and that they were loved and lost too soon. We can perpetuate their memory with the Boarding Scholarship in their names. We can ensure that these three beautiful girls, along with those who felt their loss most keenly, remain in the hearts and minds of our community, forever.