HUNDREDS turned out in Marlborough on Saturday to say farewell to St Peter’s School.

The landmark building in The Parade, that dates back to the early 1900s, closes at the end of term in two weeks' time and the school will move to the long-awaited new St Mary’s Primary School, off George Lane, which is an amalgamation of St Mary’s Infants and St Peter’s Junior.

Saturday was a time for farewells when former pupils of St Peter’s and of Marlborough Grammar School, which had its home in the building until 1962, had the chance to go through its gates – one marked for the girls, the other for the boys – for one last time.

Anne Schwodler, headteacher of St Mary’s Primary School, said she was "astounded" by the numbers who went along to the open day, estimating at least 400 attended, including one former pupil who flew in from Spain to be there.

She said: “It is heart-warming how many have turned out, I am delighted. It has been a real community event.

“I was particularly struck by how passionate people are about the building, but then it is home to so many people’s memories.”

Many Marlborough families attending were represented by three generations who all went to school in the St Peter’s building.

Among them was 63-year-old Holly Hawkins, who was joined by her three daughters, Kellie Lutener, Gemma Blundy and Beth Hawkins, and her grandsons Elliot Lutener and Adam Blundy, both present day pupils of St Peter’s.

Mrs Hawkins said: “It seems so much smaller now, I can’t get over how big it used to seem. But I enjoyed my time here, we had nice teachers.

“And it’s nice to come back and say goodbye to it.”

Daughter Kellie Lutener, 39, of Rabley Wood View, was struck by the smell – “it’s just the same,” she said. “One thing I do remember was the girls’ toilets; they were outside and I was terrified of them.

“But I wouldn’t want to be in school now. What the children have to do today, like SATs tests, is so much harder.”

Visitors enjoyed a number of songs sung by the school choir while pupils and staff were on hand to guide them around the classrooms, where displays of memorabilia and old photographs evoked laughter and memories.

Members of the school Friends group served refreshments and home made cakes to raise money for the £75,000 appeal to provide equipment for the new school when it opens in September.

The future of the Grade 11-listed St Peter’s building remains uncertain as no plans have been put forward for it. However, visitors on Saturday were certain of one thing: they don’t want it to be knocked down for redevelopment or turned into luxury retirement apartments, but kept for community use.

Former Grammar School pupil June Horwood, 77, returned to the school on Saturday with her older brother Colin. She said: “it should be protected and preserved for the people of Marlborough to enjoy.”

Mum Deborah Manning, of Cold Harbour Lane, whose daughter Macy attends St Peter’s, said it would make an ideal music centre.

She said: “Marlborough doesn’t have a museum so it could be a combined museum and arts centre.

“After all Pewsey has its heritage centre and has had a lot of money spent on it with its new hub, so it could be said that Marlborough is losing out. I definitely think the building should be kept for community use.

“It could be that the council can not afford to run such a scheme, but the building must not be left to rot.”