THE town of Droitwich Spa is best known for its brine baths and the salt industry but now it has a new claim to fame - Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne went to school there, writes Alex Wellings.

Byrne, who is one of the leading actors in America with a string of top movies to his name, was a pupil at St Richard's College, the Catholic seminary which was based at Hadzor Hall.

As a young boy, Gabriel travelled from Ireland to the hamlet of Hadzor in the early 60s and studied at the college from the age of 11 to 15.

Speaking exclusively to the Advertiser from his home in New York, the actor revealed that he still has warm memories of his time at Hadzor and Droitwich Spa and how he took his first tentative steps to stardom while a pupil at the school.

"I have such pleasant memories of that time. I remember the people with great affection," he said. "Ever since I left there I have tried to keep in some form of contact with the other students."

Byrne remembers Hadzor as a hamlet of three or four houses and that the M5 motorway had just been built. He also remembers the thrill of popping in to Droitwich Spa for a day out.

"It was the most exciting thing that one could do. There was a caf on the corner which was called Bullocks and we would go to have tea and scones. Then we went to the cinema and the swimming baths. For me it was really exotic," he recalls.

Byrne, who has worked with some of film's greatest actors including Albert Finney, Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud, was introduced to the magic of the theatre while a student at St Richard's College.

"I learnt about the theatre there. We put on Oliver and I just had a small part but it was my first time on stage. My English teacher put on a play called Monkey Paw, which I was very very excited about.

"My love of drama started there but I never thought that one day I would be an actor."

The young Byrne became something of a rebel at school and was actually expelled at the age of 15 for smoking in a graveyard. He had spent four years in Hadzor training to be a priest but was never to enter the priesthood. Instead he fell, almost by accident, into acting and made the break into movies and finally Hollywood.

Critics rate two of his films, Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects, as two of the best movies ever made.

He is currently gearing up to work alongside Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in a New Year shoot in Spain but Byrne has never forgotten about his time as a Droitwich schoolboy.

"I am so grateful to the people in the area and how I was treated. It was one of the happiest times of my life and gave me a love of the English countryside. I still think of it with great fondness."

l Were you at school with Gabriel Byrne? Do you have any memories of St Richard's College?

Gabriel was a pupil at Hadzor Hall in the early 60s and he would love to contact his old school chums. If you were, contact Alex Wellings at the Advertiser on 01527 837000.