Kirkley Hall reunion may lead to TV documentary

Jul 25 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

THE discovery of a 50-year-old film capped a remarkable reunion for a group of former Kirkley Hall students and may now lead to national TV documentary about the classmates’ lives.

Reunion of the general agriculture class of 1957 at Kirkley Hall. left to right, Anne Forster (now Walton), Margery Hutchinson, Eileen Herdman (now Ro ...

The general agriculture class of 1957 outside Kirkley Hall. David Taylor is pictured in the back row, seventh from left.

Kirkley Hall Reunion Class of 1957-8

Kirkley hall Reunion - The class of 1957-8 in 2009

Kirkley Hall Reunion - Bernard Callow from the Isle of Man

Kirkley Hall Reunion - from left, David Taylor, Stuart Skelly, Liz Brunton (now Alexander) and Ted Dunn

Kirkley Hall Reunion on the terrace at Kirkley Hall

Kirkley Hall Reunion - David Taylor re-introducing the "students", most of whom last met almost 51 years to the day as they left Kirkley Hall Farm Ins ...

Kirkley Hall Reunion - Chris Pickering - student of the year, ex Royal Marine, rags to riches farmer at Acklington

Kirkley Hall Reunion - Bill Park of Catchburn, Morpeth, former potato baron of Mid-Northumberland

Kirkley Hall Reunion - Anne Forster (now Walton) and Liz Brunton (now Alexander), both Nortumberland farmers daughters

Members of the class of 1957-58 were stunned to see their teenage selves on the 35-minute colour cine film that had been hidden away in a box of artefacts at the Northumberland College campus.

Former classmates on the general agriculture course Frank Mattinson, 72, from Bellingham, and Geoff Arlidge, 69, who now lives in Essex, found the film among archive material that lab technician Anne Owen had pulled out of the vaults.

The pair were still at Kirkley Hall the day after everyone else had left because Mr Mattinson had towed his caravan to the college near Ponteland, to ensure he had a bed long enough for his 6’7 frame.

He said: “We stayed later than everybody else on the Monday and we spoke to the lady who looks after the labs.

“She very kindly stayed behind for about an hour and a half of her own time for us. We looked through a vast amount of photographs of the past and then she produced a cine film that she couldn’t put any date to.