CLASSMATES rolled back the years to relive their school days as they gathered again 20 years after leaving Stoke High.

CLASSMATES rolled back the years to relive their school days as they gathered again 20 years after leaving Stoke High.

Sixty-nine members of the class of 1989 attended the reunion at Ipswich Town Hall - with many making it an all-nighter, going on to a nightspot afterwards and not getting home until well into the early hours.

People came from Spain, Thailand, California and all over Britain for the event, which provided a chance to catch up with friends they had not seen for years, some not since the last lesson or exam was over.

Some of their former teachers joined the celebration, too.

Organiser of the reunion, 36-year-old Kerry Laredo, who recently returned to Ipswich after living in Normandy for eight years, said: “Everyone was a bit terrified initially but after the ice was broken it went really well and there was a great atmosphere.

“It was very exciting to see how people's lives had been and there was lots of catching up to do.

“Some of us had not seen each other for ten years since the last reunion, but for some who hadn't been to that it was 20 years.

“There were lots of tears and many hugs and cuddles and people exchanging phone numbers and wanting to keep in touch.

“People kept telling me I had to organise another one next year so they must have really enjoyed it.”

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Former Stoke High student Kirsty Farrell, of Ipswich, said: “It was a fantastic evening, absolutely brilliant.

“I had forgotten how many people I went to school with. I do meet a few at the school gates but some I hadn't seen for a long time - some people had changed so much but others hardly at all, and so it was just like being back on a normal school day.

“I think people found it a bit overwhelming at first and were a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect, but once it got going it was great and so interesting.”

Felixstowe port worker Shaun Littlewood, of Lovetofts Drive, Ipswich, said the evening brought back good memories of his schooldays.

“I work with a couple of people I was at school with but apart from them I hardly see anyone,” he said.

“It was great to remember some of the fun and the laughs we had at school and makes you wish you were back at school with all your mates all the while.”

Clive Hunnable, of Bramford Road, Ipswich, who works as a refrigeration engineer, said: “It was an absolutely brilliant night - Kerry put so much hard work into arranging it.

“I hardly see anyone I was at school with so it was really nice to catch up - people's lives go off in such different directions and some move away and it was great to find out what they had been up to.

“Everyone seemed to be doing really well, too, which was also great.”