Party to be held in Morpeth to mark 50th anniversary of secondary schools merger

The get-together is the brainchild of friend Lesley Arthur and Jeanette Floyd, who came up with the idea a year ago.

It will be a ticket-only event, and held at the Waterford Lodge in Morpeth on Saturday, May 27, from 7pm.

Lesley said: “It suddenly hit us that 1973 was a golden anniversary for our generation of Morpethians, so we set about tracking down old pals to see if there was any interest in getting together to celebrate.”

They soon found out that there was, so with the organising committee bolstered by Cliff Culley, Godfrey Baker and Yvonne Bell, the team has been been trawling through their own address books, Facebook and LinkedIn to find familiar faces from long ago.

They have also been delighted by how many people have found their way to the Facebook page Golden Years Reunion 2023 and registered their interest.

They settled on the Waterford as the idea venue for the bash as it was a “home from home” to many of their peers in the 1970s and 1980s.

There will be lots of conversation, food and drink, dancing to the classics of the 70s and 80s, nostalgic photos and a quiz.

Cliff said: “We are pulling out all the stops to find people, but some we’d love to see have eluded us. We’re hoping they might see this report and get in touch.”

Jeanette added: “We’ve had a taste of how good it is to catch up with old pals during the planning stage and we are really looking forward to the event itself.

"We know there are others who would enjoy it too – but they might not have heard about it.

"If anyone born between 1957 and 1961, who was at KEVI in the 70s, would like to know more, they should email [email protected] and we’ll get right back to them.”