THE Mount Sorrel Hotel was the venue recently for the fourth reunion of the ex-girls of Barry County Grammar School who attended between the years 1959–1966 or thereabouts. 70 ladies came to lunch and several more came for tea and chats and to meet the guest of honour, Mary Young Smith, who taught chemistry at the school.

Miss Young Smith, now 90-years-old, was the only teacher who was able and/or courageous enough to come to the reunion, as it must have been daunting to meet so many old pupils!

However, she was a fantastic sport and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

As organiser, I (Monika Jones nee Lloyd) gave a short speech of welcome to the assembly along with a roll of those ex-girls who are no longer with us and introduced Miss Young Smith who, on being presented with a bouquet of flowers, stood to give a short speech of thanks.

Denise Pickett (Prater), ex-head girl, then gave a vote of thanks and presented a beautiful bouquet of flowers to me.

Janet Whitehead (Neale) got everyone to stand for a spirited rendition of the school song and it was surprising how well everyone remembered the words once the singing began – Sue Gregory (Garwood) even brought her own school song book with the words she had originally copied out so we knew what we were singing!

The Mount Sorrel provided us with a wonderful meal and lunching together gave everyone time to have long chats with erstwhile friends before the mingling took place.

Ladies had come from the four corners of Britain and Spain as well as Barry and Cardiff, and many friends had not seen one another for many years. The feedback via email, phone and post has been tremendous and extremely positive and everyone has expressed their interest in the next reunion September 2013 marks the centenary of the opening of the Girls’ school and it has been decided to hold a reunion for any ex-pupil who attended the school between its inauguration and its close in 1974.

Any ex-grammar school girls should email centenaryreunion13@hotmail.co.uk to register interest, as the event will be a ticketed affair to cover hiring costs of the hall.

Information will be sent out nearer the event.

Monika Jones (Lloyd) Pontypridd Road Barry