IT’S BEEN 60 years since these old classmates met on their first day at an East Oxford secondary school.

And the class of 1950 have many memories of their time at Southfield Grammar School, in Glanville Road.

But none as clear as the day a class prankster replaced the Union Jack with a pair of red lady’s knickers.

The infamous incident was the talk of a reunion marking 60 years since the boys, fresh from their 11 plus success, had their first day at the school.

The small school in Glanville Road, which is now Oxford Community School, only had 350 pupils and the intake for 1950 was just 60.

But almost half of the class made it back to the city, some from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand, to catch up with their old classmates at The Bar at Jesus College,on Saturday.

Ray Gould, 71, from Stonesfield, near Witney, organised this year’s reunion.

He said: “It’s a brilliant turnout.

“A small group of us meet up regularly, but there are some people I haven’t seen for more than 50 years. As people are walking in through the door we are all having to reintroduce ourselves. We’ve all changed a bit since those days.”

Included in the group was Geoffrey Nicholson, who travelled from the Bay of Plenty, on New Zealand’s North Island, and Mike Higgs, who travelled from Perth in Western Australia.

Actor Patrick Mower, who plays Rodney Blackstock in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, and former Lord Mayor of Oxford, Pat Stannard, also attended.

The ‘old boys’ remember the late Mr D G Perry as the ‘fearsome’ headteacher and Sid Brookfield, the maths master, was considered their favourite teacher.

Alan Heard, of Harberton Mead, recalled the day a class joker shinned up the school’s flag pole.

He said: “The Union Jack was replaced with a pair of lady’s red knickers and a flag with the Hammer and Sickle. It was the talk of the school.”

Philip Flook began the reunions in 2000 with painstaking effort.

He said: “I got the old register and a phone book and rang as many people as I could.

“For some of the people there were four or five names in the phone book so it took quite a bit of effort but it’s good to see so many people here again.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk