IT is sometimes said school days are the happiest of your life.
While not everyone would agree, you did not find any dissenters among the class of 1959 from St
Mary’s RC Primary in Denton who attended a recent diamond anniversary reunion.
More than 20 former pupils of the Kynder Street school accepted invitations to a celebration lunch at Oaklands Hall, Hyde; some who had not seen each other for more than five decades.
Terry Walsh, who helped organise the get-together with Marie (Lees) Hall and Mary (Howarth) Walsh, was delighted with the turn out.
“We have had couple of reunions but we haven’t done one for about 15 years,” he told the Correspondent.
“So you can imagine there were loads of stories about the old school, various teachers and what we all got up to.
“Some of the people I had not seen for 60 years. I am surprised we are all still upright,” he chuckled.
Most guests still live in Denton and Tameside while others travelled from Belgium, Grimsby and Lytham St Annes.
“We had hoped three others would be coming but for various reasons they couldn’t make it,” added Terry who revealed one of their gathering was now a Lord of the Realm!
He added: “Another lady, who now lives in Warrington, couldn’t make it because of illness.
“She was so disappointed and we hope we can arrange to take her out when she is feeling better.”
Terry and his former school friends were among the last to attend the same school for up to 10 years.
“We were different to most schools,” he explained. “Most other children had just about started secondary education.
“They started primary at five and then went on to secondary at 11.
“St Mary’s was a catholic school and we didn’t have such luxuries.
“We started school at five and left when we were 15.
“So, unless you were clever or lucky enough to get a scholarship and go to university, you started work which is what I did.
“It was great to see everyone again, though I don’t think we can leave it for another 15 years before we do it all again.”