Former pupils including Ann Knight (nee Hall) and Tony Duck went back to school on Saturday as part of the second Devizes Heritage Open Day.

It was their last chance to see Wyndhams, which housed the St Joseph’s Convent Girls’ School from 1889 to 1969.

Community First – originally the Community Council for Wiltshire – has used the building for more than 30 years but now wants to move to more modern offices.

Mrs Knight attended the school between 1940 and 1951.

Now living in Bristol, she still has a newspaper clipping from 1950 which shows she achieved a distinction in Greggs shorthand at 80 words a minute.

She said: “It was ideal for me as I was able to get qualifications in typing and shorthand and start work at 16.

“A lot of other girls would have had to go on to secretarial college to study before they could get a job.”

Mrs Knight started at the National Provincial Bank (now NatWest) in the Market Place, Devizes, in 1951 and worked there until 1960.

She remembers that after her interview with the bank manager he called in to see her father before she was formally offered the post.

Mr Duck, 78, who went on to become a newsagent in Maryport Street and lives in Worton, was one of a small intake of boys at the convent school.

He attended between the ages of seven and nine, between 1942 and 1944, after going to what was known as Mr Cousin’s Academy in the town.

He said: “I only have a limited memory of what it was like but although the discipline was more strict than it would be now I don’t remember it being overbearing.

“My daughter, Katie, went there for a little while when she was three, just before it closed, and she enjoyed going there.

“When the school closed we bought her old iron-framed desk and it has graffiti on it going back to 1923.”