It’s good to see the true traditions of ASOPA being maintained. And, as this candid shot shows, they are being maintained ferociously at reunion organising committee meetings. I need not remind readers that it is a strategic verity that any objective will be attained more expeditiously with many bottles of wine of both hues and a table groaning with seafood.

When we speak of maintaining traditions, of course, we go as far back as the Great Paediatrician of ASOPA, Dr Alf Conlon. As Peter Ryan writes of the Colonel whose steely determination brought ASOPA into this world: “Quite unconcerned by personal appearance, when he put on uniform he cut a most unmilitary figure. He smoked, drank and ate liberally, avoided fresh air and shunned exercise; he declared that he was not interested in a long life, and he did not have one.”

Billy Welbourne chuckles into the camera as Bodman removes the succulent flesh of the prawn in three easy strokes and Huggins searches amongst seafood detritus and empty bottles for a lost list. Men who, contrary to the Conlonian philosophy, are interested in a long life and are making sure it’s a good one.