YOU either loved them or you hated them.

Nothing could polarise opinion amongst young scholars during their formative years at school quite like school dinners.

In recent years there has been something of a food revolution in school kitchens up and down the country with the likes of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver being one such figure to spearhead efforts to make school meals more nutritious and delicious.

Long gone are the days when the prospect of having to consume a school dinner would send shivers down pupil’s spines.

Unappetising boiled vegetables bereft of colour or taste, congealed gravy that you could cut into, and baked beans that had died a slow death under the hot-lights of a bain marie were just some of the culinary delights that used to await pupils after a busy morning of mental arithmetic and reading.

Hampshire Heritage takes a look back through the archives to bring you some memories of school dinners from years gone by.