BRIAN Oldfield wants to recapture the freewheeling spirit of the 60s by getting all his old pals together for one last party.

The Coventry-born entrepreneur is desperate to get back in touch with anyone who attended Keresley Newland High School from 1958 to 1963 after discovering that 20 mates had all recently died of cancer.

The 62-year-old, who grew up in Nunts Park Avenue, also wants to hear from anyone who knocked about in the Rookery Lane, Nunts Lane, Meadow Road, and Gospel Oak Road areas of the city - including former pupils of Ash Green and Nicholas Chamberlain Schools.

Keen to attract about 200 people to the reunion, he's already signed up half that number after a frantic ring around.

To help him reach as many people as possible he enlisted the support of mates Billy Lamb, Jane Lloyd, and Viv Henderson - who tragically died at the start of last month.

The nostalgic shindig will take place at the Hare and Hounds, in Watery Lane, Keresley - a pub that's run by the son of Brian's former school mate, Stephen Huckvale.

The event, which will include a buffet and disco, will take place on Friday, September 4, from 7pm.

Brian, who is married with three children, moved to Nottingham 25 years ago but returns regularly to the city to see family.

As well as fond memories of school, he also wistfully recalls playing in a number of local bands in the 60s and 70s - supporting such stellar acts as the Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Tony Christie, and Shirley Bassey.

He went on to run Coventry Reclamation Services that operated where the Ricoh Arena is now.

Brian said: "I'll never forget the buzz I had living in Coventry from the age of 14 to 27.

"When I first moved I saw my friends quite frequently, but as time passed I saw them less and less.

"I myself have recently undergone a life-saving operation and am more aware than ever of the need to stay in touch.

"Already we've called about 100 people, and everyone is keen to catch up.

"But there are still many more out there who we've not been able to find, and we'd love to hear from them."

Entry to the event costs £5, with proceeds going to the Macmillan Cancer Care Nurses.

For details, call Brian on 07973 555 777.

BRIAN Oldfield wants to recapture the freewheeling spirit of the 60s by getting all his old pals together for one last party.

The Coventry-born entrepreneur is desperate to get back in touch with anyone who attended Keresley Newland High School from 1958 to 1963 after discovering that 20 mates had all recently died of cancer.

The 62-year-old, who grew up in Nunts Park Avenue, also wants to hear from anyone who knocked about in the Rookery Lane, Nunts Lane, Meadow Road, and Gospel Oak Road areas of the city - including former pupils of Ash Green and Nicholas Chamberlain Schools.

Keen to attract about 200 people to the reunion, he's already signed up half that number after a frantic ring around.

To help him reach as many people as possible he enlisted the support of mates Billy Lamb, Jane Lloyd, and Viv Henderson - who tragically died at the start of last month.

The nostalgic shindig will take place at the Hare and Hounds, in Watery Lane, Keresley - a pub that's run by the son of Brian's former school mate, Stephen Huckvale.

The event, which will include a buffet and disco, will take place on Friday, September 4, from 7pm.

Brian, who is married with three children, moved to Nottingham 25 years ago but returns regularly to the city to see family.

As well as fond memories of school, he also wistfully recalls playing in a number of local bands in the 60s and 70s - supporting such stellar acts as the Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Tony Christie, and Shirley Bassey.

He went on to run Coventry Reclamation Services that operated where the Ricoh Arena is now.

Brian said: "I'll never forget the buzz I had living in Coventry from the age of 14 to 27.

"When I first moved I saw my friends quite frequently, but as time passed I saw them less and less.

"I myself have recently undergone a life-saving operation and am more aware than ever of the need to stay in touch.

"Already we've called about 100 people, and everyone is keen to catch up.

"But there are still many more out there who we've not been able to find, and we'd love to hear from them."

Entry to the event costs £5, with proceeds going to the Macmillan Cancer Care Nurses.

For details, call Brian on 07973 555 777.

SIX Coundon youngsters shot their rivals down in flames to win the Coventry Schools' Fire Safety Quiz.

The team from Coundon Primary, in Forfield Road, went head to head with six other schools in the final at Radford Fire Station on Tuesday night.

Contestants had to answer questions on major aspects of fire safety, first aid and road awareness, including planning escape routes at home and the danger of playing with matches and lighters.

In the end it went to a nail-biting tie-breaker against Eastern Green Primary.

Winning team member Charlie Lines, aged 10, of Coundon, said: "It was tense at the end, we were all quite nervous, so we couldn't believe it when we won."

Coundon Primary will now represent Coventry in the regional final in Birmingham on July 14.

PUPILS from Sherbourne Fields are blazing a trail by becoming the first disabled cheerleading group to perform at a national competition.

And the 15 girls and five boys - aged between five and 19 - had a standing ovation when they gave their display at the national cheerleading championships held in Manchester on Saturday.

It's the first time the pupils from the special school in Rowington Close, Coundon, Coventry, have given a performance, and it was also the first time disabled cheerleaders have featured at the competition, attended by hundreds of people from all over the country.

The youngsters were presented with a trophy and medals and certificates to take home.

They were such a success organisers are hoping in the future to include a category for disabled cheerleaders in the contest.

Nursery nurse and cheerleading coach Keelie Hill said: "I'm so proud of them. We had a standing ovation and lots of people in the audience had tears in their eyes."

SHIVER me timbers - children from Longford Park Primary School have been getting into character as a ship full of pirates.

They spent the week taking part in pirate-themed activities culminating in a day of fun on Friday.

Headteacher Ray Wilson said the event was part of an arts week at the school and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

As well as creating their own pirate ships the pupils had drama and dance lessons and tried out some drumming.

CREATIVE kids were guided by a professional artist when they spent the day painting woodland scenes.

Louise Cattrell visited pupils at Holbrook Primary School, in Gateside Road, Coventry, as part of a national art prize won last year by nine-year-old student Haider Nawaz.

Iwona Glowacz, the school's art co-ordinator, said: "She was very impressed with the quality of work, particularly a water colour daisy.

"We have a lot of artistic talent at this school."

She said: "As my kids were fighting in the car, so were these cubs. After a long week at work, I wanted to treat the children on their last day off school. Michael, aged seven, Lucy,
five, Matthew, two, and Evelyn, eight months, had a lovely day."

She said: "My garden these past few months have been so a live with birds, bees, butterflies and so many creatures, it has been a real pleasure to see them come and go ."

Malcolm Jones of Rosemullion Close, Exhall, sent us this photo of a mouse hanging on a bird feeder.

He says: "The picture was taken in the back garden of my sister's house in Keresley Road. the mouse thinks it's a bird."

He uploaded it to our FlickR CV6 Group pool and said: "Well folks, this is definitely the last of my comeback batch.

"Everything else I've taken is just canal wildlife and shopping trolleys, and I'm sure you've all seen enough shopping trolleys, I haven't been away that long"

Her favourite is A Message To You Rudy.

She only wishes she was old enough to go to The Ricoh reunion last Friday.

One is of his granddaughter Sophie Leah Daffron, aged four, of Coundon and his partner Barbara Smith. The other is a close-up of one of the butterflies.

If you would like to see your photos showcased on our website, either get in touch via communities@coventrytelegraph.net or join our FlickR group by clicking here.