Ex-pupils enjoy school reunion

The school, set in 13 acres on the banks of the River Wenning, was set up in 1726 and took in boarders and day-pupils until its closure in 2002.

The buildings and grounds, 14 miles from Lancaster, now belong to Cedar House School, a facility for children with special needs.

Guests of honour at the Crofters Hotel function were Jean and Peter Webb, whose parents ran the private school for all of the 1950s and most of the 1960s. Jean is a leading human rights lawyer better known as Gareth Peirce. Peter is a film-maker.

Peter’s father was a keen photographer and left a biscuit tin of snaps that his son turned into a slide show to help old scholars relive their schooldays. As the swinging 1960s progressed, the slides showed dormitories filling with children from around the world, the dress code getting more relaxed and the boys and girls mixing more easily than they once did.