THERE have been many unusual sights at Barrow's Thorncliffe School over the years but few to compare with the day all 800 pupils took a bus trip to the theatre.

On a Tuesday morning in March 1996 Cumberland Motors gathered double-deckers from miles around for a special private charter from the Thorncliffe Road site to Forum 28.

The pupils went to see a one-man Easter show by Frank Topping called An Impossible God.

Thorncliffe School closed as part of the major education reorganisation which saw the creation of a Furness Academy on the site of the former Barrow Grammar Schools — later Parkview.

The Thorncliffe Road site had opened in January 1964 at a technical school and reopened with a £2.3m new look in 1993.

Performing the reopening ceremony was Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend Ian Harland.