Ah 2005. It was the year James Blunt released his debut album, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hit the bookshelves, Star Wars: Episode III broke box office records, and Dyce Academy class of 2005 enjoyed their prom.
Life as a school leaver in Aberdeen 20 years ago looked a little different to now.
If you didn’t spend study leave glued to an Xbox or DVD boxset, hopefully you left with a brace of Highers and (now-defunct) Intermediate qualifications.
Prom was the pinnacle of sixth year for school pupils
The class of 2005 everywhere were among the last of the pre-smartphone generation of schoolchildren.
If you were lucky, you might have had a Nokia, or Motorola flip-phone, where txt spk was necessary to cut down on characters to save precious phone credit.
But you weren’t a slave to social media, Facebook was in its infancy in America and Instagram didn’t exist.
Social media use at the time probably extended to MSN Messenger (brb), or perhaps you still have Bebo or MySpace profiles floating around in cyberspace…
There was no ChatGPT to help with coursework, and exam results were still sent by post, so it was a race against time to get your hands on them before your parents.
But before hanging up your school tie for good, the pinnacle of sixth year was the school prom.
It was the last hurrah with classmates of six years before taking those first steps towards the rest of your life.
Memories of Dyce Academy’s prom at the AECC
And it was no different for Dyce Academy pupils in spring of 2005.
Months in the planning, prom was an opportunity for pupils to take ownership of organising their final farewell.
Glamour and glitz were the order of the evening, but in the days before dedicated prom dress shops or ASOS, Debut at Debenhams or the outlets in John Lewis were the first stop for dress shopping.
Meanwhile the boys were smartly turned out for the dance in full Highland dress and hair gel.
Dyce Academy’s prom took place in the Crombie Suite at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, now also confined to the history books.
While the event may not have been plastered all over Facebook, a few fuzzy digital camera photos may still exist.
And the Evening Express was invited along at the time to capture some prom photos for posterity.
Join us on a nostalgic look back at our archive photos of Dyce Academy pupils dressed to the nines for their sixth year leavers’ prom in 2005.
Gallery: Looking back at Dyce Academy’s prom 20 years ago
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