DETERMINATION paid off when Chris Petch set about trying to trace his old school friends.

The result was a big 50th anniversary celebration at Helmsley's Crown Hotel at the weekend when after initially tracking down eight through Ryedale School, he eventually found all 32.

Now the class of 1967-68 has been formed into the Nifty 50-50 group, says Chris, of Ashdale Road, Helmsley. "We have now all reached 50 so it seemed an appropriate name."

Ex-schoolfriends from all parts of Britain attended the reunion and now, he says, the intention is to make it an annual get-together.

"After getting eight names from the school, I was able to make contact and those eight in turn made phone calls until we had the full membership of the class."

The class was the first at Ryedale School to stay on after taking the then Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, he said.

The reunion, which included a dinner at The Crown, had taken three months to organise, tracing pupils who had made their careers and brought up families in all parts of the country.

Updated: 11:30 Thursday, February 07, 2002