School anniversary a roaring success

Pupils and teachers dress up in the glitzy Twenties fashions of the day

PUPILS at St Thomas Leesfield got a taste of life in the roaring Twenties as part of celebrations to mark the school’s 80th anniversary.

Beads and bonnets replaced shirt and tie as the students stepped back in time to find out what life was like in 1929, with its flapper fashions and dusty old blackboards.

And the children didn’t have to try too hard to imagine what life at the school was like in days gone by, with former pupils and teachers dropping in throughout the week to give special talks about their schooldays.

Among those regaling the pupils with tales of the past were Edith Powell (90), 87-year-old Martha Chadderton (nee Taylor) her son, Paul Chadderton, and Vera Buckley.

Former teachers who came to talk to the pupils included Edith Ogden (85), Gladys Dronsfield (95), Marie Kerr, Kathleen Sykes and ex-head teacher Glyn Jones.

Pupils weren’t the only ones being given a vital history lesson.

The school held an open day for members of the public who wanted to browse the old logbooks and artefacts, which included the old school bell and a blackboard loaned by Gallery Oldham.