IT CLOSED half a century ago this year, but pupils still have fond memories of their old school.

The City of Oxford High School taught generations of boys on a cramped site at the corner of George Street and New Inn Hall Street for 85 years.

Old boys who belong to the City of Oxford School Association (Cosa) are planning a series of events this year to mark the latest landmark in the school’s history.

The main one will be the annual reunion lunch at the Oxford Spires Four Pillars Hotel in Abingdon Road on Sunday, October 2.

Cosa was formed in 2004 and held its first reunion lunch the following year. Similar events have been held every year since, but this year, organisers want to make it a special occasion.

Chairman Professor Peter Hills tells me: “We are trying to catch people who might never have been before but might be persuaded by the fact it is the 50th anniversary.”

Former pupils living in California, Australia, France and Switzerland have come to previous reunions, and it is hoped to attract many more living abroad as well as in the UK.

Old boys also hope to gather on the old school site – now the home of the Oxford University History Faculty – on Friday, July 15 – 50 years to the day the school closed.

They plan to assemble and reminisce in what was the school playground, where there is a bench and a plaque commemorating the staff and pupils who once occupied the buildings.

When the school opened in 1881, it had about 46 pupils. The number gradually increased to a maximum of about 360, with some notable celebrities among them.

They included comedian Ronnie Barker and TE Lawrence, best known as Lawrence of Arabia.

A plaque to Lawrence was unveiled at the school by Winston Churchill in 1939.

Boys were divided into four houses, all named after former pupils – Lawrence, Kerry, Salter and Joliffe.

During its 85 years, the school had only six headmasters – AT Pollard (1881-7), AW Cave (1887-1925), W Parkinson (1925-32), JE Badman (1932-44), FC Lay (1944-62) and RW Bodey (1962-66).

When the school closed, it amalgamated with Oxford’s other boys’ grammar school, Southfield, to form Oxford School on the Southfield site off Glanville Road, East Oxford.

But through Cosa, the memory of the high school lives on.

Full details about Cosa and its activities are available on its website, cosa.webplus.net.

Any memories or pictures of life at the City of Oxford High School for Boys to share with readers? Write and let me know.