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BOAT TRIP: Pupils enjoying a day afloat.

THEY are supposed to be the happiest days of your life and now a group of Southampton people are putting together a book that aims to recall their schooldays at the former Moorhill Secondary School.

Now an appeal is going out to Hampshire Heritage readers who also attended the school back in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s for stories, reminiscences and old photographs that could be included in the book.

Rod Collins from Winchester, one of the former pupils compiling the book, said: "None of us is getting any younger and we all forget things now and again so please help us record the life of our old school. Let some happy times be relived.

"We need your help to recover our history. When the old school was demolished much of our archives went with it.

"Many of us have fond recollections of our formative years and friendships that were nurtured at school have lasted over the years.

"We would like to hear memories from classmates about just ordinary things such as, the uniform and names of teachers. Were the chairs comfortable? Did you carve your initials on the desks and the ink pot holders?'' Rod is also anxious to hear from anyone who played sport for Moorhill Secondary and people who may have old school photographs tucked away in family albums.

Moorhill Secondary School was renamed as Woodlands Community School in 1984, and subsequently demolished and rebuilt in 2001. It is now known as Woodlands Community College.

Moorhill was named after Moorhill House, which stood just outside the former 19th century Harefield Estate, in West End.

The present Harefield housing estate was built about 1960 on the 238- acre estate of Harefield House, an Elizabethan-style country house built in 1834 for Sir Edward Butler, chairman of Southampton and Salisbury Railway Company.

Edwin Jones, the local politician and founder of one of Southampton's former departmental store which ultimately became Debenhams, bought the house in 1887 but it was destroyed by fire in 1915 while occupied by his widow.

The Jones family sold the estate in 1917 and there was some building in the 1920s but it was not developed to the full until well after the Second World War.

8:40am Tuesday 11th December 2007

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