Former Plaistow Grammar School students enjoy reunion
Lesley Knight, Terence Stamp, Lesley Grainger and Colin Grainger at the reunion - Credit: Colin Grainger
Former Plaistow Grammar School students staged a reunion to mark the school’s 90th anniversary on Saturday.
Among those who gathered at the Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury was one of the school’s most famous alumni, actor Terence Stamp.
The 77-year-old, who played villain General Zod in the Superman films, even turned up wearing a replica school blazer.
Former student and ex-Recorder editor Colin Grainger, who attended the Prince Regent Lane school from 1965 to 1972, said: “It was an excellent gathering, and a lovely surprise that Terence joined us. He even turned up wearing a blazer with the PGS badge on it.
“He told us he had found an original and had then had it recreated by his tailor.
“He laughed and was reminded – quite a few times – of the day he returned to the school at the start of his career in a pink suit to open one of our summer fairs in the 1970s.”
The reunion, which saw former teachers join students from across a number of year groups was organised by ex-student Len Filtness.
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It was the fifth gathering in as many years since once to mark 40 years since many left the school.
The school first opened as Plaistow Secondary School in 1926 and became a grammar school in 1945.
It closed in 1972 and went on to become Cumberland Comprehensive. The site is now the home of NewVIc.
