THE larger group shown here was photographed in 1953 and the smaller a year later.

Each is of netball players at what was then Drove Secondary Modern School for Girls, and they were sent to us by a Swindon woman who appears in both.

Eileen Oliver, 74, was Eileen Miller when she was at Drove, which has since become a primary school. She joined at 11 and left when she was 15 to work at Garrard’s.

“I haven’t got a very good memory,” Mrs Oliver admitted. “I just kept the photos. I’d written the names on the backs. I’ve never been in contact with the girls since those days and I just thought I’d see if they were still about.

“I’ve never come across them again, but they must be somewhere about because they’re all my age.”

The image of the larger group shows (left to right, standing) Eileen Miller, Barbara Smart, Pamela Hillman, Carole Heath, June Sleeman, Maureen Miles and (left to right, seated) Sally Wyse, Sheila Webb, Brenda Day, Coral Winchcombe, Shirley Fisher and Sheila Collins.

The smaller group is (left to right, standing) Diane Banner, Jacqueline Lea, Violet Starkey, Pamela Hillman and (left to right, seated) Sheila Viveash, Jean Davis and Eileen Miller.

Jean Davis, seated in the middle of the bottom row in the later image, is holding a rose bowl, which was the trophy all secondary modern netball teams in Swindon competed for in those days.

After leaving Drove and beginning her career at Garrard’s, Mrs Oliver met husband John, now 76, who worked in the offices of the GWR.

Now retired, he serves as verger of St Mary’s Church in Rodbourne Cheney.

Mrs Oliver went on to play netball for the Pinehurst women’s team and at county level, continuing until the 1990s. These days, having had a knee replaced, she prefers bowls.

Are you one of the girls in these photos? Please get in touch.