IN 1951 a reporter from the Malvern Gazette was invited to visit Hanley Castle Grammar School, then a school for boys.

At that time the school had 175 boys on its roll, of whom 80 came daily from Malvern and 40 were boarders, mainly from the Birmingham area.

The school could trace its history back to 1326 when it was founded as a Chantry School.

In 1733 the school house was rebuilt through the generosity of Sir Nicholas and Mr Edmund Lechmere.

The connection with the Lechmere family was symbolised by a pelican on the school crest similar to one the Lechmere's coat of arms. In 1951, Sir Ronald Lechmere remained a governor of the school.

"A school with its roots deep in the past and its present busy with good work and bright with enterprise has no need to worry about the future," commented the Gazette's reporter.

It was a Monday afternoon and in the boys' common room sixth formers were firing questions on currant affairs at the headmaster, Mr E R Nichols.

The meat situation was causing much concern.

"Can the Argentine hang on longer than we can sir?" asked one boy, to which Mr Nichols replied that it depended on whether that country could find an alternative market.

The price of canned fish and national service, a "waste of time" according to the boys, were among the other topics under discussion.

Every one of the 20 or so boys around the table had their future mapped out.

The Royal Navy and the teaching profession were top favourites and several boys expressed an interest in farming, the Civil Service, accountancy, engineering and medicine.

In the teachers' common room, one member of staff said the boys were more intelligent and appreciative of school facilities than those he had taught in the past.

The school was divided into three houses - Lane, Rhydd and Hall - and among its distinguished old boys were author and broadcaster, P. H. Newby, and Frank Rennie, whose play, The Chameleon, had been performed at Malvern the previous year.