THEIR flares may be long gone but the memories are still going strong for a group of former Ipswich students.More than 100 ex-students and their partners and a handful of former teachers took a trip down memory lane on Saturday to relive their days at Tower Ramparts Secondary Modern School which closed in 1978 and was demolished the following year.

THEIR flares may be long gone but the memories are still going strong for a group of former Ipswich students.

More than 100 ex-students and their partners and a handful of former teachers took a trip down memory lane on Saturday to relive their days at Tower Ramparts Secondary Modern School which closed in 1978 and was demolished the following year.

The reunion, held at the Locomotive Social Club, Rectory Road, Ipswich, was timed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation in 1974.

Former student and one of the organisers of the reunion Val Goldrick said: "We had a great time. People were coming up to me all evening and thanking us for organising it.

"Everybody was having a really good catch-up."

Former headteacher Harold Cadwallader, of Woodbridge, is now 82 but he made the trip to Ipswich to share his memories of the school, which used to stand on the site now occupied by the Tower Ramparts shopping centre.

Mrs Goldrick, of Palmcroft Road, Ipswich, said many of the ex-students were tracked down through Friends Reunited and simply by word-of-mouth.

"It was a massive task, we've been planning it for the best part of this year.

"We had one person come from Luton and another come from Bury but most of the people still live in Ipswich."

She added: "We were the first year that had to stay until we were 16. In that actual year we all got on really well."

Do you have any memories of Tower Ramparts School? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk