"The members of our form who left St Swithun's in 1968 have reached or are about to reach our three quarters of century and a few of us have been together since kindergarten in Medecroft, the original junior school in Sparkford Road. This made it an extra special delight for eleven of us to meet in Brasserie Blanc near Waterloo. We also celebrated the birthdays that day of Teresa and Kate. Linda Neal, who organised the lunch, provided a splendid Colin the Caterpillar cake with candles.

The restaurant manager, very wisely, had allocated us a separate room with a long table and we had a patient waitress who could not have been more attentive.

Returning to memories of one's school days always produces numerous funny stories. We were teenage girls from the 1960s and being allowed to wear home clothes in the sixth form, we embraced the fashion of those days which did not always go down too well with our form mistresses.

The facilities were nowhere near as splendid as they are now but we benefitted from enthusiastic teachers who, not having their own families (except Mr Pearce) put all their energy into developing our skills and took us on numerous trips. A schools cruise on Nevasa around the Mediterranean was an experience we have never forgotten. Many of us kept in touch with our favourite teachers long after we left school and the close friendships we formed with one another are still going strong. We are look forward to more stories and another lunch in the autumn."