A THOUSAND or more Berkeleyites attended the celebration on Tuesday marking the symbolic transition from their 104-year-old school to the nearby plain on the other side of the road, as the first step towards a likely more impressive, formal reconnect soon to occur with the new super-modern, multi-million-dollar complex.

The new school, painted in the distinctive Berkeley green pastel, provided a silent, but beckoning backdrop for the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony. It will be only the third campus for Berkeley since the school opened its doors in 1897 to 15 boys and 12 girls in an old Samaritans Lodge that once stood in Court Street, Hamilton.

The disconnect proved to be a lively, edifying event laden with rich history, witty anecdotes music and other presentations. All was climaxed with the soul-stirring singing of the Berkeley school song with its "Berkeley, Dear Berkeley" refrain.

Unpretentiously joining in the celebration was an array of Berkeleyites past and present, movers and shakers in Bermuda's national and international affairs, political figures, Cabinet Ministers, civil servants, educators, medical and legal luminaries, bankers and other business executives and social and cultural personalities.

Among them was Premier Alex Scott, one of the three Premiers the 109-year-old school has produced, others being Dame Pamela Gordon and Dame Jennifer Smith. Also spotlighted was Dame Lois Browne Evans, the first female Official Opposition Leader in the British Commonwealth.

There were the two Mayors of the old town of St. George's sprung by Berkeley, Miss Lois Perinchief, the first of her gender to hold that office, and E. Michael Jones. A third Mayor of Hamilton was the late Cecil Dismont.

Sustained cheers greeted Mrs. Michelle Grant Simmons as she launched the celebration, stating how proud yet humbled she was "to be the principal of my alma mater".

Since 1968, when she graduated, she had been able to pursue her dream, thanks to the exposure to academia she had gained at Berkeley. The occasion was a very special one in the history of the Institute, "poised as we are to move into the brand-new, purpose-built school; and this site that could only be perceived as the linchpin between the old and the new edifice of the future."

AS a fiercely proud and loyal Berkeleyite, Mrs. Simmons pledged to do all in her power to expand Berkeley's legacy for generations of Bermudians to come. This is the beginning of a new chapter in Berkeley's history, and we must make this school a vibrant place for learning, where sound teaching and the highest intellectual and ethical standards were inculcated so that students emerge prepared to make a positive contribution to society.

Premier Scott described the occasion as a bitter-sweet one, with the closing of the hallowed doors of the old Berkeley, and the opening of the new one. He urged all to pledge that the passion of the founding fathers and their vision to change Bermuda for the better will remain alive.

He personally was proud of the road he had travelled, a road that began at the Berkeley Institute, and being a descendant of Henry T. Jackson, his great grandfather who was a founding father of the Berkeley Educational Society.

Berkeley was not just another school, the Premier said. It was an exceptional institution with a heart and a soul that would never die.

The Berkeley Educational Society was formed in 1879 by a group of men who immediately put plans in action that led to the opening 18 years later of the Berkeley Institute.

My photos show: The setting at the Berkeley School field (top) where the transition ceremony took place on Tuesday, closing out the nearby 104-year-old Institute as a prelude to an even grander ceremony in the near future when the new multi-million-dollar purpose-built complex seen in the background will be formally opened. Places of honour were reserved at the ceremony for most distinguished past and present Berkeleyites. Among them was Mrs. Evelyn Smith of North Shore, Pembroke, who was presented with a plaque for being the oldest surviving Berkeleyite.

Set to celebrate her celebrate her 100th birthday in just over a month's time, Mrs. Smith is with one of her two daughters, Rodell Smith on the right. And on the left are former St. George's Mayor Lois Perinchief and Miss Carol Hill, granddaughter of Samuel David Robinson. It was in Robinson's living room in Princess Street, Hamilton in October 1879 that he and five others originated the Berkeley Educational Society and plans for the school that became a reality 18 years later. Below right, Berkeley's principal, Mrs. Michelle Simmons, epitomised the true Berkeley spirit, displaying the school's house colours in her green dress and golden hat.