St Nicholas C E School, Blundellsands, Reunion
The first ever reunion of St Nicholas School C E School, Blundellsands, took place recently when pupils who attended the original school in Warrenhouse Road got together after last seeing their school friends around 60 years ago.
The school had opened in 1856, originally called St Barnabas, and closed in 1969, the pupils still remaining transferring to the new school building in St Nicholas Road, Blundellsands.
More than 50 former pupils gathered at the Hightown Club and enjoyed catching up on past decades with much chatter and exchange of a life-time’s news. They were also able to see many old photos and a slide show depicting their former school days.
And there were squeals of delight as they read each other’s name stickers and realised who each person was. They even managed to sing the school hymn the organisers had found in the archives that no-one remembered!
There was a roar of lively chatter the whole afternoon. Research had been done into the history of the school and every person was given a copy. A luscious buffet rounded off a wonderful afternoon.
Guest of honour, present head, Ms Becky Woods, said: “It was an honour to be invited to the reunion of past St Nicholas CE Primary pupils. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to memories of our school and it was very interesting to look at all the photographs and press articles that people had provided. We are hoping to welcome the reunion attendees into school so that they can talk to the children about the very different experiences they had at St Nicholas. The building has changed considerably over the years but I hope they will find that our Christian distinctiveness and high expectations have remained the same. Many thanks to everyone for all their hard work in creating such a memorable event.”
The oldest ex-pupils attending were Colin Mills, 78, and Bob Gleig, 77. Also attending was past assistant head, Hilary Munro. Some former pupils had travelled some distance – Ian Miller, came from Florida, and others had travelled from as far as Milton Keynes, Darlington, and Maidstone in Kent.
The Reunion was the idea of former pupil Jeanette Compton (now Smith), Ian Winkley and Gordon Martin who contacted as many people they knew to form a committee last April. The list of former attendees grew until the committee had a large database of pupils born between 1930 and 1955.
Above: From L: Ian Winkley, Jeanette Smith,Gordon Martin
Said Jeanette: “It was a marvellous occasion. People had worked hard to organise the event, having fun on the way, and many old friendships have now been re-energised, and new ones made. Some people were unable to attend and asked if we were going to hold another one. We will meet again in a year’s time to see if there is the demand.”
Meanwhile if anyone wishes to add their names and contact details to the database they should email Jeanette at jeanette.p.smith@btinternet.com
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