First-class reunion for Shrewsbury Wakeman School intake

Visitors to the Wakeman School in Shrewsbury were shown a film of a school trip to Holland and Belgium in 1963 which was found among a treasure trove of old school footage discovered stored in a cupboard.

But hopes that they would see themselves or people they knew were dashed as it proved to feature students from a younger age group.

The nostalgic return to the Wakeman was part of the commemoration events there as the clock ticks down to the school's closure in the summer.

It was organised by history teacher Don Fear who issued an invitation to members of the 1957-1962 year group, which formed the first intake into the Shrewsbury Technical High School when it first admitted 11-year-olds.

"Twelve ex-students from the 1957-1962 cohort turned up, all of whom were in the same tutor group – H1," he said.

"Most of them had met at a reunion since being at Wakeman, but at least one clapped eyes on his classmates for the first time since 1964.

"After assembling together they were given a tour round the school, which sparked much happy chatter and reminiscences along the lines of the 'do you remember when . . .' variety.

"They then returned to a classroom – mine, D3 – where they were shown an extract from a film made by students in 1969, which included quite a lot of footage of the school.

"This included film from the 'A' Floor, the basement, which hasn't been used since 2003.

"Finally, we took the group down to the digital media studio to show them one of the films we have digitised, a trip to Holland and Belgium in 1963.

"Unfortunately that proved something of a damp squib, as it was a lower school trip.

"Those pupils who did A Levels were in sixth form at the time of the trip and none of them was on it, nor did they know anyone who was, though they had done a similar trip in 1961.

"Despite this, it was a most enjoyable morning, to see old friendships renewed and old memories rekindled."