More than 500 ex-pupils from the former Macclesfield High School shared memories at a reunion.

Women who were at school from the 1950s to 1980s travelled from as far as America and Europe, with Sandra Willis coming by narrow boat from Birmingham, to the reunion at Fence Avenue, which is now home to King’s School but was Macclesfield High School until 1990. It was an all-girls school until the 80s. Star of the show was former headteacher Beryl Footman, now 86, who was at the helm from 1963 to 1977.

She said: “The girls joke that I was scary, but I was more scared of them. The secret of the school’s success and so many familiar faces here have returned here today was the happiness of our community.”

The school was founded in 1880 by the governors of Macclesfield Free Grammar School and originally used part of the premises of the Useful Knowledge Society on Park Green. It moved to the new school at Fence Avenue in 1909.

The reunion was organised by Karen Barker, formerly Karen Jones, who said: “Last year I set up a Facebook page which now has some 600 members and it’s incredible that the vast majority have turned up today.”