More than half a century ago they all enjoyed an idyllic village upbringing - and this week a group a former school-friends met up again in their first ever reunion.

They might have needed name badges to recognise each other, but the memories soon came flooding back when former pupils of Burley-in-Wharfedale Church of England School got together in the village where they grew up.

About 48 people attended the reunion - some travelling long distances, but many still living in Burley itself.

The event was organised after former pupils Betty Kennedy, nee Hird, and Beryl Edwards, nee Marriott, came forward with a photo of their old class and an appeal for those pictured to get in touch.

After an article in the Gazette ex-pupils wrote from as far away as Canada and Australia, and old school-friends travelled from all over England to meet up again.

Mrs Kennedy, 67, who now owns Herncliffe care home, on Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, said the reunion had been a huge success, and it was now hoped it would become an annual event.

She said: "I thought people would be interested just to know how everyone was getting on but I didn't think they would travel the distances they did."

And she said the local turnout was just as impressive. "I think everyone over 65 in Burley was there," she laughed.

"A lot of them were unrecognisable - but we had name badges made with maiden names on."

She said the former schoolmates had enjoyed swapping stories from their schooldays in the 1940s.

She added: "We all thought it was a fantastic place to have had a childhood. It was a very safe place and we were all able to go out and play together without being in any danger."

Mrs Kennedy said the village had changed a lot over the last six decades and she added: "We all had the best years."

Now she is compiling a booklet of photographs and anecdotes which she is planning to circulate among the school-friends.