IT was the year athlete Seb Coe set a record time for running a mile and Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first female Prime Minister.

While, in Warrington, the sixth forms of Boteler Boys Grammar in Latchford and Warrington High School merged to form Priestley College.

Four decades later staff are planning a year of celebration to mark the college’s achievements and need the help of Warrington Guardian readers to do so.

“We are celebrating 40 years of excellence and during that time thousands of young people have been educated at Priestley College,” said Principal Matthew Grant.

“We are looking for anecdotes, photographs and personal success stories that they feel started at college so that we can show the difference this institution has made to the people of Warrington and the surrounding areas.”

Warrington Guardian:

When the first stone was laid for the Girls School in 1954

When Priestley College opened, under the headship of David Henderson, it had about 350 students.

Today, thanks to a growth in the size of the campus and number of courses on offer, that has increased to around 2,000 students who study A-Levels and a range of vocational subjects.

Just a few weeks ago the college celebrated its best ever set of A-Level results with the class of 2019 securing a 99.4 per cent pass rate and 100 per cent in 34 subjects.

“It seems so fitting that this year’s cohort did incredibly well, but there has been consistent success for the past 40 years,” said Matthew.

“That means there are lots of alumni with inspiring stories to tell and we know students have gone on to careers as diverse as actors and research scientists, to members of the judiciary, to sportsmen and women.

Warrington Guardian:

A statue of Joseph Priestley which is still standing in the reception 

“There are also former Priestley students making names for themselves as fashion designers, engineers and entrepreneurs who have set up their own businesses.”

If you studied at Priestley and would be happy to share your stories or pictures from college, please email a.bird@priestley.ac.uk

For news about Priestley’s celebratory events go to priestley.ac.uk