A reunion afternoon tea at The King's School brought back special memories spanning 80 years for lifelong friends.

Pupils from Macclesfield High School joined with former pupils from King's Girls’ Division to remember their experiences at the Fence Avenue site, their young hopes and dreams.

Amazingly two women met each other for the first time in 80 years as Marjorie Boothby MBE, now 90, saw and instantly recognized her first Sixth Form prefect Shelagh Proctor, now aged 96. 

Marjorie said: "I remember walking into Macclesfield High School on my first day and following a notice which said ‘New Girls Enter Through The Front Entrance’. It was all very different from Trinity Square Primary in Hurdsfield, which is also now not there, and just a little bit daunting.

"From there we were taken to what was then called the 'New Building' and divided into three classes of 30 and that's when I met Shelagh our own class prefect."

"She was such a lovely Sixth Former. Very kind and we could all talk to her about anything. We all loved her. She was a wonderful role model."

Marjorie, who was awarded her MBE for her 30 plus years voluntary work with The Prison Service, as a Prison Visitor, church organist and staff trainer, first became a primary teacher herself and said: "I might not have been very academic but I enjoyed my school life immensely and perhaps that inspired me to teach myself."

Over 100 guests, both pupils and former teachers, scanned the archives of school photos, memorabilia and press cuttings and were treated to a video message from legendary former Headmistress Beryl Footman, who has just left Macclesfield after 75 years to live in Cambridge, and whom the school visited to record her message.

Amber Owens, Chair of the King's Former Pupils’ Association, who joined King's Sixth Form in 1988, leaving in 1990, three years before Macclesfield High School reopened as King's Girls' Division, said: "It was a simply fantastic afternoon and just lovely to see so many former pupils and teachers aged from 17 to 97.”

Amber, who is now an accountant with French Textiles Company Flexdev, and whose son Harry went to King's and is now studying Medicine at Keele, said modestly: "I too remember the friendships, many of which have become lifelong; the reassuring sense of belonging and the fact that it was just such a wonderful environment."

Jason Slack, Head of The King’s School, said: "Although the Fence Avenue site is currently being converted into houses and apartments, just like the Cumberland Street site, it is not the bricks and mortar that people remember but the connections they make. Life is not about the destination, not even the journey, but about the company along the way and that's what we saw very clearly today."

Photo gallery below: