GENERATIONS of pupils and teachers swapped stories as they said an emotional farewell to a 130-year-old Yeadon school.

Hundreds of past and present staff and students swarmed into Yeadon South View Junior School last Saturday for a special memorabilia display.

Organised by teacher Judith Woods and retired secretary Greta Lawton, the exhibition featured rare old photographs, school reports and other curi-osities.

The day was designed to give anyone connected with the school a chance to say goodbye before it is demolished, to make way for a new building, this summer.

Mrs Woods said she was delighted, and surprised, by the turnout.

She said: "It was absolutely brilliant, it was unbel-ievably busy and I dread to think how many hundreds of people came. Every-one was just thrilled to bits with it.

"It really turned into a sort of great big party, and everybody was talking about how enjoyable it was afterwards.

"Teachers were meeting pupils they had taught, and in some cases whole families, years ago and it was marvellous to hear what they had been up to.

"A lot of people, of all ages, were sharing anecdotes about their time here and having a look around the school trying to remember where they used to sit, where things used to be, that kind of thing.

"We had some incredible items for the display - school reports from the 1930s and photos of football teams from the 1960s and a class from 1949.

"We even had somebody bring in their old savings bank. They'd been given some money by the school on the coronation of King George and it was still in there, they hadn't touched it!"

Aireborough Civic Society actually launched a campaign to try and save the building, which dates back to the 1870s.

They hoped that by applying to have the school listed its exterior, at least, could be saved as part of the town's heritage.

But Leeds planners, under time pressure due to funding rules, ended up approving plans which will see it knocked down and a modern building set up close by.

Mrs Woods, who officially 'retired' last year, says she will probably continue teaching at the new school but it won't be the same.

She said: "This is the end of an era, really. For some people this school has been in their family for more than a century.

"We managed to trace one family who had five generations attend the school, and another, the Hainsworths, had four.

"There were quite a few generations there on Saturday, we had everyone from kids to people with grey hair. The former pupils were meeting up with old classmates they hadn't seen for years so there was a lot of catching up.

"The day was a lot of fun but quite emotional, too. I think we've done the school proud before it goes, anyway."

*The school would like to thank everyone who donated items for the 'farewell' display.