Former pupils at a girls' school turned up from all over the country for a get-together.

More than 70 women - who all started at Didcot Girls' School in 1979 - attended the reunion at Didcot Leisure Centre.

The party was organised by two former Didcot Girls' School chums Angela Andrews and Julie Bladon, both 32, who canvassed other friends on the idea of celebrating 21 years since they started at the school.

"It seemed like a good idea, especially during Millennium year," said mother-of-two Miss Andrews, a secretary receptionist of Nene Grove, Didcot. The school's head of year 11, Susan Proctor - who taught the girls - was among the guests at the party which was dedicated to the memory of former pupil Lisa Downey, of Blewbury, who died in 1995, aged 27.

Miss Downey had qualified as a PE teacher at Birmingham University before starting her career in Reading.

Miss Andrews said: "Many people brought along mementoes including photographs of their schooldays."

She added: "It was such a successful evening that everyone agreed that we should try to organise another reunion on our 40th birthday in eight years' time."

Admission to the reunion was free although there was a collection for Breast Cancer Care.

Didcot disc jockey Dave Claridge, whose wife Debbie was a pupil in the 1970s, provided a disco.