COMMEMORATIONS have taken place in Wisbech to mark the 70th anniversary of London pupils being sent home following their evacuation to the Fenland town during the Second World War.

Pupils at the Stationers’ Company’s School spent the first part of the war, from September 1939 to 1942, in Wisbech, and in July of that year the school’s headmaster, Mr S.C. Nunn, paid tribute to the staff at Wisbech Grammar School for undertaking the education of the evacuees.

A cup presented to the Grammar School by the Stationers’ Company’s School in appreciation for the work of their hosts is still awarded to the winner of the overall House Challenge competition every year.

A team of three past pupils from the London school joined the Wisbech celebrations. They were led by Dr Nigel Wade, president of the Old Stationers’ Association, who attended the school from 1951 to 1958.

He was accompanied by the vice president, Professor Tony Moffat, who was at the school from 1954 to 1961, an emeritus professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of London who has served as chief scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The third member of the team was Mr Geraint Pritchard, a pupil from 1954 to 1962, who returned to teach geography, games and geology. He remained on the staff at the school until it closed in 1983 and now edits ‘The Old Stationer’ magazine.