Boiled cabbage was on the menu at an inner city Bradford school where pupils endured a 1903-style school dinner.

Green Lane Primary in Manningham has a proud history as the first school in the country to serve up free school meals.

Those early school leaders - including Jonathan Priestley, father of playwright JB - were determined the children of the city's undernourished poor would at least have one square meal a day.

Present-day pupils, who are taking part in a week of activities to celebrate the school's centenary, sampled an original school meals menu of baked lentil savoury, rice and cheese, dry bread and cabbage.

It went down well - apart from the cabbage, said deputy head teacher Sally McArthur.

She said the pupils had loved meeting former pupils, invited into school to share their memories of Green Lane.

Older pupils in Year Six had interviewed the guests for a project.

Staff came to school dressed in Edwardian costume, supplied by the Priestley Centre for the Arts.

Pupils had the chance to try out writing on slates, and desks were set out in rows as in years gone by. Children had to bow or curtsey to their teacher at the start of the lesson - an enjoyable novelty, Mrs McArthur said.

Among old boys and girls who returned to tour the present-day facilities was Eccleshill woman Christine Swales.

In the course of quizzing her, pupils discovered she is the daughter of former pupil Fred Green, the subject of a photograph which is a treasured part of the school archive.

Pictured soon after the turn of the last century, Fred is seen being weighed by head teacher Jonathan Priestley in an early health check.

Other former pupils travelled to join the celebrations from as far afield as Doncaster.

And two old boys - who were friends 75 years ago while both were pupils at Green Lane - were reunited, Mrs McArthur said.

Pupils came to school in historic costume, run up by their mums and aunties, including Eton collars for the boys and three-quarter length knickerbockers and pinafores for the girls. They were sent home with a piece of celebration cakes, made by Education Contract Services in recognition of Green Lane's historic role as the original home of school dinners.

Pictured is Robert Vicar as a disciplinarian teacher at the school.