PUPILS met their counterparts from generations past as a school preserved generations of memories.

Cheney School welcomed back alumni from Cheney Technical and Cheney Girls' School, as well as former students from later eras, to share their stories and objects from their time there.

The school's own Rumble Museum ran the collection day at the end of June, as part of its work to maintain stories and artefacts from its history.

Lorna Robinson, director of the museum, said: "We are very grateful to everyone who attended to share photographs and stories, and to all our student helpers for looking after our guests so considerately.

"We will eventually be putting all their stories and photographs online so people can explore them, and we warmly welcome any stories and items people might want to add to the digital collection we are hoping to grow on the history of Cheney."

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Cheney School in Headington was once two separate schools, which merged in 1972.

Cheney Technical School arrived on site in 1954 from the St Ebbe's area of the city, and was originally founded by John Brookes in 1934.

It occupied the area of school now called W block after Arnold Wainwright, the headteacher who oversaw the move.

Cheney Girls' School started life as a Sunday School in 1797 and then became Oxford Central Girls' School, and moved to New Inn Hall Street.

It moved to Cheney's site in 1959, and occupied the area called C Block, named after Louisa Chadwick, a much-loved headteacher of the Oxford Central Girls' School.

Alumni were greeted by a team of trained Cheney students, who interviewed them and wrote down their stories.

Some brought in old school magazines and photographs, yearbooks and even an old piece of equipment called a slide rule.

Students got to meet Susan Mortimer (nee Bannister), who was the first girl to join the technical stream at Cheney Technical School in the 1950s.

Her decision was a groundbreaking one, as until then, it had always been assumed that girls would choose the arts and commercial courses only.

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Ms Robinson said: "The old boys and girls of the school were able to have a site tour, discover how the buildings are now used, and see the many new buildings. Many were amazed at how large the school site now was.

"They were also able to spend time with each other over coffee and tea, renewing old friendships, and looking at some old photographs from their time at the school."

The Iris Project, a charity which promotes learning about the ancient world, is working with Cheney to grow the museum and gain accreditation.

This year the Rumble Museum partnered with Oxfordshire Hospital School, to develop in-house displays of museum objects and projects for poorly children to enjoy.

In March the museum submitted the final paperwork in hope of gaining official accreditation from the Arts Council.