NOT many former Hadleigh High pupils had their reunion journey disturbed by the Sars virus.But then not many of them had a 26-hour door-to-door trip ahead of them when they decided to attend the 1982 reunion.

NOT many former Hadleigh High pupils had their reunion journey disturbed by the Sars virus.

But then not many of them had a 26-hour door-to-door trip ahead of them when they decided to attend the 1982 reunion.

Andy Farrow is now based in Taiwan as a vice president of B&Q. But he hasn't forgotten his roots and made the pilgrimage back for the party, on Saturday, with old pals.

He said: "It's certainly a long way to come, but I was really looking forward to it."

With no direct flights to the UK available, Andy's normal journey home involves a stop in Hong Kong.

But with the Sars virus raging on the island, it seemed a diversion was a sensible option.

He said: "I had to fly to Paris instead and change there, which made it a 26-hour journey from door to door, but I flew first class and that makes all the difference."

Andy has kept in touch with old school-mate Robert Stainer, who was one of the reunion organisers, and decided to make the trip back after hearing about the party in his old school hall.

"We always send each other emails, which means we keep in touch pretty regularly. I phone him as well, but he never rings me back," joked Andy.

Party planner Anita Taylor was ably assisted by Robert as well as other old pals Ruth Powell, Debbie Johnson, Kay Stanard and Paul Crick.

She said: "I've had a great time planning it for the last six months. We had 77 people which I'm really pleased with.

"We had people come from Devon and Scotland as well as Andy from Taiwan.

"People were talking about it for years, but I was just too busy, then this year I thought 21 years was long enough and decided to get on with it – it was absolutely hysterical."

Things in 1982

Number 1 this week in 1982 was Ebony and Ivory – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

Argentina invaded the Falklands

Graceland, home of Elvis Presley, opened to the public

Michael Jackson released Thriller

Channel 4 launched

Italy won the World Cup.