HUNDREDS of old girls were transported back to their school days for a mass reunion.
From a group of "pioneers" in 1933, to today's evolving campus, past pupils from throughout the life of Greenacre School for Girls, in Banstead, were reunited to mark its 80th birthday.
Almost 300 old girls, aged from their 20s to 80s, met up to reminisce and tour their old haunts on Saturday. After a welcome lunch in the sports hall and a speech by current head girl Lucinda Armstrong, 18, who has been at the school since she was three, her forebears took a tour down memory lane.
"All the girls reverted to being 12 years old," said pastoral deputy head Louise Clancy. "They ran around the school viewing all the different rooms and seeing how things have changed since they were here.
"We had a rousing rendition of Pioneers, the school song," she added. "They all remembered it word for word. One lady said she hadn't sung it for 43 years.
"The older ones brought their songs of praise books from the 1950s along. We also had lots of younger girls who had only left a few years ago.
"It was a very joyous afternoon."
One of the more senior old girls – Imogen Taylor, who started at Greenacre in 1934 – also gave a speech, relaying the early years of school life, and the upheaval of its evacuation during the Second World War.
The school was founded by Sabine Pasley and Patricia Wagstaff, who wanted to provide education tailored to the specific needs of girls and young women.
Miss Pasley, who wrote the Pioneers song in 1942, bought Heath House in Sutton Lane, Banstead, in April 1933 and, on May 4, the school opened with 17 pupils. By the autumn term, 50 more pupils joined.
Current-day girls marked their school's birthday with an assembly and activities on May 3, when head teacher Lindsay Redding announced the latest development – an all-weather hockey pitch, which should be completed by next term.
She said: "This is a fantastic new development for the school."
