10:51am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Gill Johnson
PAY attention, the class of ’51 at Blackburn Girls High School.
Plans for a reunion are being made — 59 years after you all moved up to ‘big’ school and became new, first years there, aged 11.
A date has been set for May 15, but, as yet, no venue has been decided.
The reunion has been organised after former pupil Joan Potter, nee Ryan, contacted old friends for a book about her upbringing in Blackburn in the 40s and 50s.
‘Two and Two Halves — and a Dog’ takes the reader from her days as a toddler to student, remembering her friends along the way.
Said Joan: “When writing my book I contacted old school friends I hadn’t seen for over 50 years. It was great fun and one of them suggested a reunion for our school year — the 1951 entrants to Blackburn Girls’ High School, who will all be 70 this year.
“We would like to gather as many people as possible, including any staff who taught us. We would also like people to spread the word among former classmates they may still be in touch with, even if they can’t come.”
Joan has sent Looking Back this photograph of her classmates, later on in school life, as they moved on to form VIA in 1958.
Do you recognise, on the back row, left to right: Jean Donley, Jean Taylor, Judith Anelay, Katharine Yeates, Margaret Pendlebury, Joan Ryan, Jean Cronshaw, Eunice Gardner, Joyce Bradshaw, Jean Sagar, June Pickering, Hilary Durham, Sheila Kershaw.
Middle row: Jean Moffat, Jean Higham, Patricia Grierson, Carol Burgess, Christine White, Christine Bentley, Vivien Dean, Caroline Sloan, Ann Livesey, Christine Crankshaw, Ann Kershaw, Patricia Hollows, Hazel Robinson, Marjorie Knowles. Front row: Enid Hampson, Barbara Jacksory, Muriel Jepson, Margaret Addy, E Johnson, Miss Pemberton, headmistress Miss Armstrong, Mrs Partington, Adrien Duerden, Dewella Clayton, Vanessa Bullough and Marjorie Forrest.
Anyone who wants to join the get-together should contact Hilary Withers, nee Durham, on 01628 523762 or email m-withers1@sky.com.
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