JOANNE AGAR (now Ninnes): used to live in Weetwood Court. Around 1981 she was teaching at a girls’ school in Cheshire. At that that point she was a rather young widow (surname Cooper), her husband having been killed in a plane crash - I believe he was a professional football player. She remarried (surname Ninnes), and had a son. Around the late 1980s she lived in the Eccleshall Road South area of Sheffield.

JOHN ARMISTEAD (Tarm):
used to live first in Batcliffe Drive, then near the Cottage Road cinema. Was The Raiders’ bass player and the only one who was in the group from beginning to end. Married Linda, lived in York, then moved to Scarborough. He was a company accountant working for an American company but has now semi-retired. Fills his time with various bits of voluntary work. Is on the Boards of the local hospice and Scarborough’s Theatre in the Round (which stages a lot of Alan Ayckbourn plays). Wife Linda has now retired from nursing. Three grown-up kids — Claire, Timothy and James and an ever-increasing numbers of grand-children. Tarm still plays guitar. He plays an acoustic twelve-string in the loo, and an electric bass in public when called upon to do so.

SANDRA BAKER (now Midgley): me. Used to live on Beckett’s Park Drive. Married to Beau since 1969. Now living in Norfolk. Child-free. Worked in insurance most of my life. Finished paid work in 2011, but do some voluntary work at the local GP’s surgery. See website for full details (http://www.sandramidgley.com). Busy at home running an Alumnae Website for the Old Girls of Lawnswood High School (http://www.lawnswoodhighschool.com).

KATY BRADY (now Harrison): used to live on Spen Lane. Left Leeds in 1966 and went to college. Married Tony Harrison in 1971. Lived in London until 1990 and lost touch with Leeds. Children are Luke, Samuel and Susannah. Kate and Tony now live in Falmouth where Katy is an advanced skills teacher. She has had five books published for the BBC/Hodder & Stoughton. She also wrote the ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘Time to Move’ programmes for the Beeb’s Educational Radio service. Husband Tony had a big brain haemorrhage in December 1998 and is now retired due to ill health.

GORDON DICKSON (Dumphrey): used to live at West Park.
In his own words —
“Left school in 1965 with an abysmal academic record. However managed to wangle my way into a four-year hotel management course in London. Had a fantastic time and qualified in 1969 after which I worked for two years as a duty manager at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch in the West End of London where I had an even better time, mostly because I was solvent for the first time!

I met my first wife in London: her name was Penny and she worked as a solicitor. To cut along story short I decided to take up articles in accountancy and we both moved back to Leeds In 1971. We were married in 1972 and lived in Adel for some years. We had a daughter, Elizabeth in 1976 and a son James in 1984. I became a partner in a firm of accountants in Leeds in about 1982. However in 1986 I left and set up in partnership with a colleague in Harrogate.

Unfortunately in 1991 Penny was diagnosed with cancer and after a distressing illness she died in April 1993.

By this time we had moved to Green Hammerton, which is half way between Harrogate and York, and I was reasonably settled there with a lot of support from family, friends and neighbours. Elizabeth was studying for her A-levels and James had just started school at St Peters School in York.

Life then took a change when I met my second wife Diana. This is where it starts to get complicated.

She is a consultant anaesthetist who specialises in pain control, and I first met her when she treated Penny for pain during the latter stage of her illness. 6 months after Penny died Diana and I met socially and it was not long before we fell for each other and we were married in June 1994.

Diana has five children; Sarah, Penny, Luke, Vanessa & Toby. The house in Green Hammerton proved to be too small, (hardly surprising!) so we moved to a big old farmhouse in Long Marston not too far away and have spent four years renovating it.

In March 1999 the accountancy partnership split up and I merged with Wilson Braithwaite Scholey and now work as a partner from the Harrogate office.”

MARTIN FRYER: Sadly, Martin died of cancer in November 2010. He was aged 64. Martin used to live in West Park. Originally worked as a timber merchant. In 1982, he and a business partner set up a timber business in Scarborough. Was married with two grown-up kids and grand-children. Split from his wife, sold the business, retired, met and married Helen about 1988, and then bought a smallholding on the North Yorkshire moors. Kept a few animals — chickens, sheep, etc. Was a Special Constable; had medals, etc. Occasionally worked as a part-time, freelance driver for Express Dairies, simply because he liked driving big boys’ toys! The local council allowed him to keep a snow-plough at home so that he could clear the roads after a snow-fall! Also worked voluntarily for a Romanian Orphan’s charity; driving an HGV around collecting clothes, toys, etc.

FRANKIE GAULD (now Morley): used to live at Weetwood Court.
In her own words —
“I had moved down from Scotland in about 1960-ish and the accent disappeared somewhere. I met Hugh Morley outside Bryans fish and chip shop and we were married in 1967. We lived in Barwick and went to Canada in 1969 and had a great time. Travelled a lot including Kathmandu on a bus from London, and Peru etc., before the crowds. We had Alastair in 1976, Fiona in 1978 and Hannah in 1980.

We moved to Clifford then Thorp Arch, York temporarily and to Kirk Deighton in 2002. We are renovating an old house.

I worked in Headingley for fifteen years.”

STEPHANIE HAMPSON (later Collett-Jobey): used to live in the Stanmores. Went to London and worked for the Bank of England. Met and married Jonathan Collett-Jobey. Had Sophie, moved to a village in Buckinghamshire, and then had Oliver. Life was going well, when Jonathan died of a heart attack in 1991, aged forty-five. Steffi started life again. Became an estate agent. Sadly, Stephanie died of cancer in 2008.

VANCE JOHNSON: used to live at Shadwell. Vance was asked to leave school after forging his own absence notes. He was rumbled when the note claimed that he had smallpox — he’d meant to say chickenpox! A letter was sent to his parents in a plain brown envelope, as Vance had intercepted all previous mail bearing the school crest.

This early version of Bart Simpson then set up the highly successful chain of Troy Auto Spares (which has furnished my Mother with countless sets of car seat covers over the years!) The business flourished and Vance doesn’t really need to work any more. He’s sold several of his shops in Leeds but kept the Harehills outlet ’cos he still loves tinkering with greasy engines. He’s married to Ann who is a lay-preacher, and has a grown-up daughter, Lindsey. No different to the Vance of way-back-when.

PAUL MARSHALL:
used to live on Waterloo Lane in Bramley. Rhythm guitarist and sax player with The Raiders after Robin White left. Paul trained as a chef and spent many years working as such. Opened “Crumms” bistro in Horsforth, and set up the first pizza restaurants in Leeds. He then went to The States for a few years before returning to Yorkshire. Worked in the computer business for several years. He then put chef-ing and computing behind him and went back to the Grammar School as the Sports Technician. Said it would’ve been a good job if it wasn’t for the kids! He also took on the role of Social Secretary for the Old Leos Rugby Club. Married, divorced and now re-married to Lorraine. Two grown-up children, Emily and Charles. In 2008, Paul and Lorraine moved to Brittany where they own and run a holiday gîte called ‘Les Jonquille’ — http://www.brittanyholidaygite.com/. Still plays a mean guitar.

KAREN METCALFE (now Watson): used to live in the Stanmores. I don’t know much about Karen except that she married Ian Watson and worked at The Lawnswood Arms for a while. Two grown-up children and some grandchildren. Lives in Adel. Looks exactly the same as she did in the sixties!

TREVOR MIDGLEY (Beau):
used to live in St Chad’s Avenue. Was lead guitarist with The Raiders. Worked for the Halifax Building Society for most of his life. Recorded two albums for John Peel’s Dandelion label in the early seventies. Limited success then, but cult status now. Beau’s early records have been reissued several times on CD. Other later recordings have also been released. Full details from his website (http://www.trevormidgley.com).

Hacked off with the Halifax, he retired two weeks after his fiftieth birthday in 1996. Has written a Bob Dylan reference book (“Dylan: Contraband”) and a musical on the life of Andy Warhol. He is also Ring Master for the Instrumental Rock Music Web Ring and the Bob Dylan Web Ring. Still plays guitar every day, but spends too much time in front of a computer screen. Still married to me!

See/hear some of Beau’s performances on YouTube. Click on http://www.youtube.com/user/TrevMid.

JANE MITCHELL (now Sykes): used to live at Weetwood. Jane now lives in Bramhope and is married to Norman Sykes. They have two daughters, Kate and Jenny. Now retired, Jane worked at her old school, Leeds Girls High, for 11 years as secretary to the Head of the Junior School. Jane plays golf and still keeps a horse!

JOHN MITCHELL: used to live at Weetwood. John is an accountant in Headingley. He runs the practice that was set up by his grandfather. Married to Ann with two grown-up children, Georgina and David. You can see a picture of John on the company’s website at http://www.mitchellsgroup.com/accountancy/contactus.htm.

CHRISTINE PICKUP (now Lee-Jones): used to live in Glebelands Drive, just off Shaw Lane. Now lives in Altrincham, Cheshire. After Lawnswood, Christine went to North Wales University for four years to train to be a teacher and spent one of those years as part of the first cohort to study for the then new education degree. Met Denys Lee-Jones at Bangor and got married in 1972. After graduating, Christine & Denys moved to London where Chris started teaching in Bethnel Green. Spent twenty-one years teaching Religious Studies in various tough comprehensives in London. Worked her way up the promotional ladder and at age thirty-three took a break to have Amy. Chris spent the time she had at home with Amy studying for a Masters Degree at London University. She went back to work on a part-time basis for a year and then left secondary schools for a Further Education college. She became a deputy in a new Sixth form college that was being developed and then became Principal of a Sixth Form College in Salford. Eventually she became Headmistress of an independent school, Manchester High School for Girls.

In 2007 Christine was made a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Greater Manchester for her services to Manchester High School, to the Girls School Association and for her charity work. A DL is a deputy to the Lord Lieutenant who is the Queen’s representative in any locality. She is also a magistrate. At Christmas 2008, she retired from teaching after thirty-eight years in education (presumably not counting her time at school!) She then became a non-executive director of a NHS hospital and sits on the Board. Christine says, “The time commitment is supposed to be two-and-a-half days a month but the reality is much more. Learning about the NHS has kept my brain functioning and as a Magistrate, I also sit on the Bench a couple of days every month. I have recently discovered e-Bay and am busy selling all the suits I will never wear again, which is great fun.”

RALPH SIMS (Sidlet): ‘Ralph of The Raiders’ used to live at Alwoodley and was the drummer for the band. Went off to Reading University where he met Cathy. Having qualified, they got married and immediately headed for New Zealand where they still live. Ralph is a professor specialising in renewable energy and climate change. Whizzes about the globe giving and attending lectures, seminars, etc. Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Cathy is a retired teacher. Two grown-up kids, Adam and Miranda, both married with children and living in New Zealand.

Put ‘Ralph Sims’ into a search engine and you’ll get loads of pages. I’ve lifted this from one of them:

“Professor Ralph Sims was recently a Senior Analyst in Renewable Energy and Climate Change at the International Energy Agency, Paris whilst maintaining the position of Professor of Sustainable Energy at Massey University, New Zealand where he began his energy research career over three decades ago. He was the Co-ordinating Lead Author of the "Energy Supply" chapter for the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a Lead Author of the focus group for the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy. He has acted as a consultant to many energy companies and is a chartered engineer and Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.”