Memories come flooding back at Bognor Regis Community College

Around 400 people attended the open day celebrating the present building which is due to be demolished later this summer to make way for a multi-million-pound new facility being opened this September.

From twentysomethings to pensioners, they all came for a nostalgic view of the place which formed a central part in their formative years, even enticing back a couple of former headteachers.

But from speaking to some of the earliest pupils, it seems none could have quite matched the strict manner with which its first head, Mr 'Gaffer' Groves, kept discipline in the late 1930s.

Peter Shephard, now 77, certainly remembers the good old days of being there in the mid1940s, when it was deeply frowned upon for girls and boys to mix '“ with senior pupils being educated at different ends of the school.

"Those were the best times of our lives, just mucking about with my friends. They did football, cricket and boxing back then. We really enjoyed it all, but I do remember the headmaster used the cane in those days."

His nostalgic recollections were certainly shared by one couple, Alan and Marie Taylor, who met at the school during the mid-1940s and this New Year's Eve will celebrate their golden wedding.

"It was fantastic, I was there from 1946-57 and I can remember my first day quite well," said Mr Taylor, who lives at Mill Farm, Pagham.

"I was actually so upset they took me home at lunchtime. But I met my wife Marie there when I was 13 or 14.

"We were not supposed to talk to the girls, but things were serious between us from the age of 15. It was puppy love, but here we are 53 years later. We're still together and will be celebrating our anniversary with a cruise in June."

Mr Taylor became a civil engineer and his wife worked in several schools in Bognor including The Glade. They have five children and are proud grandparents to 12 youngsters.