Pupils from Chetwynde School at Barrow were forging friendship with 13 European visitors on the school’s first-ever exchange in autumn 1987.
Five girls and eight boys from the Schule Lehmhorsterstrasse in Bremen, West Germany, had arrived in Barrow to spend a week at the English school and a week visiting other parts of the country.
It was an opportunity to meet old friends for some Chetwynde pupils. A group of fifth year students had stayed in Bremen in April that year.
The Barrow group had been given a magnificent welcome, according to exchange organiser Keith Hollingsworth, who taught German at Chetwynde.
The German pupils were staying with Chetwynde pupils and their families. They had been corresponding with exchange partners since the trip to Germany.
During their visit to Furness they toured Barrow Town Hall and met Mayor Cllr John Smith.
The pupils were taken up the clock tower. Herr Detlef Both, who taught English at the German school, said it was the first visit to England for many of his pupils.
In 1994 Chetwynde School’s rugby union teams took part in the county club festival held at Carlisle Rugby Club.
The school were defending champions in the under nine competition, but were drawn in the strongest group, along with Aspatria, Netherhall and Egremont. In the opening game, Chetwynde lost 10-0 to Aspatria, but then went on to beta Netherhall 10-0 with two tries for William Forrester.
The last game was lost 5-15 to an Egremont team, the Chetwynde try coming from captain David Wood.
The under 11s, after an unbeaten season, proved to be one of the strongest teams in the competition.
They won both their group games and then moved comfortably into the final with a 35-0 victory over Netherhall.
They then played one of the most memorable games of the year, only to be beaten in the last minute of the match 21-19 to Aspatria.
The Chetwynde try scorers throughout the competition were: Liam Harrison, 5; John Mason, 4; Nick Beach, 4; Tom Hartley, 3; Brian Fitzpatrick, 4; Dominic Zwicky-Ross, 2; and Andrew Doling, 1.
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