Former students of the Chorleywood College for Girls with Little or No Sight have held a reunion in their old school buildings, now a retirement village.

For 60 years the college was a renowned centre for girls with visual impairments, until it was amalgamated with the boys school in Worcester in 1987.

The building, in Dog Kennel Lane, is now Cedars Retirement Village, and although Chorleywood College alumni have held reunions in the past, they have never held one at the old school.

When Jane Owen Hutchinson, a pupil from 1962-1969 suggested the idea, a group of "old girls" jumped at the chance. And some from as far away as Derbyshire and Dorset joined others from closer to home, Tring and St Albans, to attend.

Ms Owen, who herself travelled from Devon for the reunion, said: "It was with mixed emotions that we came back to what is now Cedars Retirement Village. It was run as a boarding grammar school with a very small number of pupils – there were just 12 girls in my year. Of course the site has lots of memories for all of us."

The eight visitors were given a tour of the old dining room, now the restaurant, and the school assembly hall which is virtually unchanged as the village’s ballroom.

Ms Owen said: "The 'winter garden' as we called the conservatory was a very popular place. I have many happy memories of taking pottery classes there and of apple bobbing during Hallowe’en celebrations.

"We had to be in the dining room by the time the gong at the bottom of the staircase had finished chiming, I can still hear the clatter of feet in the race to get down and avoid punishment."

The pony field is now home to a number of properties and the gym and swimming pool are no longer there.

During the visit, the former pupils spent some time with Margaret Mortimer, a Cedars Village resident who taught home economics at the school during the 1970s.

Ms Owen added: "She didn’t teach any of us but she was able to let us know what happened to some of the staff. It was a great opportunity to share memories and to spend time at a place that was so important to us."