IT was a double celebration for grandad David Baggaley, who has turned 80 the same year as his beloved former infant school.
The Woodthorpe resident was one of dozens of old and current pupils, staff and parents, to gather at Hazel Hurst Preparatory School, Mapperley, on Saturday to toast its 80th anniversary.
When Mr Baggaley, of Greys Road, first pulled up his knee socks and trotted off to Hazel Hurst School at the age of four, the Second World war had yet to break out and Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs had left cinema-goers speechless for the first time.
He said: "I am very fond of this school and the founder Miss Noble was wonderful.
"I don't remember very much because it was many years ago and the memory does fade but I was here in the war time and am proud of my connections.
"As is my brother Jonathan, who sadly couldn't make it because he now lives in Canada."
Jonathan, who attended the school 13 years after Mr Baggaley, sent an email to the school to mark the occassion. It read: "I am sad not to be able to come to the reunion.
"One of my earliest memories is walking up Hilton Road to school each morning the age of four with my classmate Tina Norwood, who later taught at the school.
"Less happy is my memory of the weekly elocution classes which I dreaded, being shy."
The private school, in Westdale Road, was established in the living room of founder Gwen Noble's detached house and remains a small establsihment with only 35 children on its roll.
Hannah Bebbington and Hollie Harrold, both 29, met at the school when they were four and have remained friends.
Mrs Bebbington, whose little girl Evie, 3, has just started at the school said: "I had a wonderful time here but I don't miss having to wear the horrible brown pants which were part of the school uniform."
Retired cook, cleaner, gardener and "life-saver" Marion Measures, 72, also made an appearence at the reunion.
She said: "When I first started out in the 40s, I was cooking the kids full roast dinners for their lunch and lots of things with suet."
She added: "By the end – let's just say it was a lot more balanced."
