Earlier this month I told you about the school reunion, the first one in 20 years, and the story helped to track down former pupils who travelled from far and wide for the party.

'I really must declutter, but I knew they would be useful one day,' laughed Sally, who, in those days back at St Thomas More Secondary Modern RC School on Jessop Road, Norwich, was Sally McMullan.

Earlier this month I told you about the school reunion, the first one in 20 years, and the story helped to track down former pupils who travelled from far and wide for the party.

They were brought together by Sally and Faith Pritty (Lee), who have remained close friends for almost 50 years, for an evening of nostalgia with a good deal of laughter thrown in the years just rolled away.

'Some of them had not seen each other in over 40 years, while several of us last met at the first reunion in 1990,' said Sally.

In the 1960s the St Thomas More School of some 300 pupils was a secondary modern. It is now a middle school and youngsters move on when they are 12. The school started as Heigham House on Heigham Road in 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Mr McManus was the head during the war years and then Jack Rudden took over, He ran the school until Miss Pat Delahan. It moved to Jessop Road in 1961 and later became a middle school.

The reunion was held at the Green Man, Rackheath, by courtesy of the owner, Derek Jennings, a pupil at the school back in the 1960s, who provided a wonderful buffet for everyone.

'More than 70 ex-pupils were there and it was marvellous to meet up again with two teachers from the 1960s – Patrick Beale and Peter Ward.

'Mr Ward (who is held in great affection) is now 86 years old and many covered up their name badges to ask him to guess their names successfully – all great fun,' said Sally. 'A few old friends remained talking until late – not about what career path they took or how many grandchildren they had but purely to look back with much affection on their time at St Thomas More.'