BURY Grammar School (Boys) is celebrating a special milestone.

For this year marks the 50th anniversary of an exchange trip with its partner school, Deutzer Gymnasium in Cologne, Germany.

It is believed the exchange trip is the second oldest existing agreement between a British and a German school. The exchange was established in 1954 when Dr Arnold Meier, the then head of languages at Bury Grammar School, decided to set up the exchange with his former school in Cologne.

He had fled Germany to escape Nazi persecution during the 1930s and the idea of an exchange was his attempt at making possible reconciliation after the horrors of Nazi Germany.

And the exchange has continued ever since, with a party of pupils from Bury Grammar School visiting Cologne and a delegation of German students coming to Bury in alternate years.

The focus of each exchange has been a football match between the two schools. But this has become less important over recent years as the Cologne school has become co-educational. In response to this, Bury Grammar School (Girls) now takes part in the exchange and there is a competitive volleyball match.

Dr Meier died in 1999 at the age of 94 but his legacy is still very much alive today.