In 1968, the remaining pupils of St Thomas's Girls School in Marton Street moved to join the pupils of Ripley Boys School in Ashton Road and the Ripley St Thomas CE High School we know today was born.

To celebrate the occasion, a weekend of events has been organised on June 7 and 8 for old friends and current pupils and staff to enjoy.

These include tours around the school, an exhibition of memorabilia, afternoon tea, sport, dance, drama and music presentations; a look into the past with former staff and a look towards the future with current head Mrs Liz Nicholls; choral evensong in the chapel, and an evening barbeque with fireworks.

Helping to collect together memorabilia from both St Thomas's and Ripley Schools for the occasion is Mrs Dorothy Franklin who also played an important role in the amalgamation of the two schools 40 years ago.

Together with headteacher George Phythian and deputy head Normal Ellis, she helped set the foundations of good order, discipline, care and
compassion at the new school.

Although the girls finally vacated St Thomas's School on July 23, 1968, plans for the amalgamation had been a long time coming.

Secondary school re-organisation was a major problem for the district in the 1960s. Before opening it was agreed that Ripley would be at least a five form entry secondary school for pupils aged 11-16 but if future development warranted, the school should be fully comprehensive to 18.

The architects chosen to design the new school were Messrs Pearson of Meeting House Lane and building work began on June 1, 1966. The cost of the contract was £273,000.

The new school had actually opened a month before with a combined service to mark the first time the site was being used by boys and girls since it was evacuated in 1939.

There were 349 pupils on roll; 20 full time teachers and three part-time teachers.

Despite the amalgamation taking place, the girls continued to be taught at St Thomas's, only visiting Ripley for games.

The impact of the changes was shown on September 6, 1966 when the first co-educational intake arrived of 33 girls and 59 boys, all selecting the new Ripley St Thomas CE High School as their first choice for secondary education.

The new intake and those already studying at Ripley worked as the
building took shape around them.

By the summer of 1968, enough progress on building work had been made for the girls of St Thomas's to vacate their premises on July 23.

To facilitate this, the school closed for the day. During the summer
holidays, parts of the original building were decorated and altered.

Finally the swimming pool was modernised completely at a cost of £12,000.

The official opening of the school took place about a year later on July 16, 1969 by the Archbishop of York, Dr D Coggan who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury.

And the new era had a direct link to Ripley's past as it was on July 14, 1856, that Mrs Julie Ripley laid the
foundation stone of the Ripley Hospital School.

n Much of the information in this article comes from The Ripley Legacy by George Phythian who was headteacher from 1966-1991.

He has just written his autobiography entitled Lancashire Farmer's Son who became High School Headteacher.