THERE was plenty of reminiscing to be had as around fifty Wrexham school mates got together for a 40 year reunion last week.

Jill Povey, 56, who was originally from Gresford, but now lives in Surrey, said the idea to hold a reunion for the Darland Comprehensive (now High School) Class of 1979 was the brainchild of two former classmates; Suzanne Daulby (formerly Davies) and Heather Dunning (formerly McCartney).

The reunion evening took place on Saturday, June 1 at the Ramada Plaza hotel on Ellice Way, and Jill said she was delighted with the turn out, including a surprise visit by the old headmaster, Mr Gwilliam.

Mrs Povey said: "We had a fantastic evening of reconnecting, reminiscing and remembering those not able to join us.

"

Although we didn’t find any further classmates following the article

, I did receive a surprise email from the head at that time, a Mr Gwllliam.

"Our final year was his first as Head. He had been shown the article by his local newsagent. Sadly he informed me that a scrapbook of archives that had been kept since the school’s opening in 1958 were lost following his retirement in 1996.

"However, we were fortunate that Dave Henrys, a former class mate, is also a professional photographer. He kindly collated and digitised any photos that we could provide, took current ones of the school and trawled through whatever the school did have in their archives."

From the old photographs he received, Mr Henrys was able to put together a really touching video which helped tell the story of the years they had all spent at the school.

Mrs Povey added: "Along with music of the era, a reflective and touching video put together by Dave and some memory-jogging activities - a music and quiz of the era - everyone went away buzzing and with promises that we should all try to keep in touch more, as well as intentions that we should do it all again!

"Many of us admitted that there were some people they simply couldn't recall, myself included. With separate school houses and a catchment from three or four villages, some of us were simply never in the same classes throughout our time at Darland.

"Name badges on the night helped us along, as many of us have changed significantly over the past 40 years."

Jill, who went by the surname of Crosbie back in her school days, said a lot of people are still local to the area, but that others had attended from other parts of the country, including Gloucestershire and Yorkshire, while some travelled from as far a field as Spain and Bulgaria.

She added: "After leaving Darland I went on to Yale Sixth Form College in Wrexham to study for A levels, as did others in the year, including Suzanne and Heather.

"After that, I moved away to study in Nottingham, then after 10 years there, moved up to Aberdeen to study for a PhD in microbiology."

Mrs Povey, who is married with three children, spent 25 years living in the Scottish city, including two overseas postings to Baku and Moscow due to her husband's job in the energy sector, but has recently moved down south to live in Surrey.

Janice Myer travelled all the way from Bulgaria to attend the event and meet up with old friends, she said: "I personally travelled from Bulgaria especially to meet up with old friends.

"It was an honour to pay tribute to those of whom had passed away at such an early age and a joy to see people who were distant memories.

For me it was an opportunity to reconnect and with the help of the internet, not neglect to nurture precious relationships which were taken for granted so long ago."

For fellow pupil Sian Matthias, the night proved to be a great experience, although she admitted to being worried about whether she would recognise anyone after such a long time apart.

She said: "A few of us were very nervous about meeting our school friends after 40 years.

"As soon as I arrived the years just melted away. Jill, Heather and Suzanne had done an amazing job in firstly, contacting so many ex pupils and then organising a truly memorable evening at the Ramada hotel in Wrexham.

"The highlight of the night was the slideshow of all the pictures that everyone had submitted before the event, so brilliantly edited by photographer David Henrys, which included messages from both the headmaster of the school while we were there, and also the current headmaster.

"We have all agreed, I think, that we could have done with more time to catch up with everybody."