PUPILS who attended a Winchester school held a last reunion of their old girls' association.
The annual gathering of former students from Winchester County School for Girls has been taking place for almost 100 years.
The school was founded in the early 1900s as the Winchester County School for Girls, becoming Winchester County High School for Girls in 1936.
It had been a grammar school for girls only until 1973 when it became a comprehensive and was renamed as The Westgate School, which now sits on Cheriton Road.
The old girls' association was started in 1920.
The reunion was held at Western Primary School in Fulflood and was attended by nearly 100 members.
The day saw a celebratory cake being cut, as well as a cheque for £1,000 being handed over to Westgate for the purchase of astrolabe - historically used by astronomers and navigators to measure the position in the sky of a celestial body.
One of the group's oldest members, Shirley Townend, who attended the school from 1932 to 1938, was also in attendance.
Christine Rodger, secretary of the association, said: "We are all getting on a bit and it was time to end it on a high note rather than simply petering out.
"I wouldn't have gone to medical school without the place. It was a time when women didn't really get terribly far. Most went into teaching or nursing, a few went to university."
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