IF you’re one of Drove Road School’s class of ’59, your old friends want to hear from you.

A reunion for the girls, who turn 70 this year, is set for Saturday, June 14 at the RAFA Club in Belle Vue Road.

They were 15 when they left what was then a girls-only school. World events that year included the death of Buddy Holly, Fidel Castro taking power in Cuba and Marilyn Monroe starring with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot.

Harold MacMillan was in 10 Downing Street, Dwight D Eisenhower was in the White House and Elvis was in the US Army.

Reunion organiser June Beveridge said: “I think this may be the last major reunion because 10 years from now we’ll all have Zimmer frames, I should think!

“We girls might meet up if we can now and again, but there won’t be such a big reunion.”

The Drove Road School catchment area was the town centre, which in the days before redevelopment housed many more people than it does today.

“It was nice because it was an all-girls school,” said Mrs Beveridge.

“We all used to walk to school together along the old canal, which is now Fleming Way. We used to meet each other at the bridge and walk to school.

“We all lived close to each other.”

Until the age of 11, girls and boys alike were educated at the old College Street School, but then went their separate ways. Boys were sent to Sanford Street.

Mrs Beveridge remembers the teachers as a mixture of good and less so, but a particular favourite was a Mrs Garrish, who taught PE. “She was a happy teacher,” said Mrs Beveridge. “She joined in with everyone. Some of the other teachers were not so good – they were bossy.

“I don’t think they were that much older than us, some of them. If we were 15, they would have been 25 to 30.”

Mrs Garrish attended the last major class reunion, which was held in 1989. It is thought that she would be in her mid-eighties by now.

Many of the class remain in the Swindon area, although some have lost touch. Others moved elsewhere; one is in the US and another is in Belgium.

Pupils who have yet to get in touch with Mrs Beveridge are welcome to do so on 01793 644773.