A SCHOOL is planning a walk down memory lane to celebrate its 100th birthday. Letchmore Infants and Nursery School in Stevenage Old Town is hoping ex-pupils and staff will come forward in the next few months with their old photos and memories of the scho

A SCHOOL is planning a walk down memory lane to celebrate its 100th birthday.

Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School in Stevenage Old Town is hoping ex-pupils and staff will come forward in the next few months with their old photos and memories of the school.

The school then plans to mount and display the material in an exhibition that will take centre stage at a Centenary Summer Fayre.

Visitors will be able to see the changing face of the much respected school over the years and read the memories of the countless pupils and teachers who have passed through its classrooms.

The fayre is just one of a number of events taking place to mark the centenary.

There will be history workshops to show what Edwardian life was like in 1910 when the school first opened its doors.

Pupils will be taken to see the Old Town bath house that operated in Basils Road.

And parents and youngsters alike will get a demonstration of traditional and typical playground games that would have taken place at the school in 1910.

A trip is also planned for Year 1 pupils to the British School in Hitchin for an authentic look of what a turn of the 20th century school was really like.

All the events are taking place in June culminating in the fayre on Saturday, June 19. Traditional creams teas will be served and a brass band will be on hand to add to the flavour of a bygone era.

Headteacher Roma Marshall, who has been head since 2002, said; "We want people to get in touch with us if they have any old pictures of the school that they can lend us.

"There must be lots of ex-pupils and teachers who have pictures showing the school over the years - the older the better.

"We thought it would be nice to mount the material in an exhibition in the school hall which could also include the written down thoughts and memories. Just a few sentences would do but there must be people about with some fascinating memories of life at Letchmore."

Roma said it would be wonderful if the exhibition could show people's pictures from the war years, their thoughts about the arrival of the new town, and how the school marked the big historical events of the day like coronations, and jubilees.

Letchmore Infants' School was built in 1908 and opened its doors on January 31, 1910.

Consisting originally of six classrooms in the old building with its clock tower, it served the town as a boys' school.

It became an infants' school in 1950 following the development of Stevenage as a new town.

The school was extended in the late 1960s and the purpose-built nursery unit was completed in 1976. It currently has 250 pupils.

Roma said: "It might be that we can get the photos enlarged along with the written words. I'm sure ex-pupils and teachers particularly would find it interesting. People don't have to worry, we will take good care of any photos and they will be returned."

Anyone with photos or memories of Letchmore School can contact Roma on 01438 234400 or email her at admin@letchmore.herts.sch.uk