PRESTWICH Community High School bade farewell to 70 years of teaching experience when two long-serving teachers decided to call it a day.

Assistant headteacher Brian Worthington (55) took early retirement after 34 years at the Heys Road school and his colleague Jerry Webster (57) handed in his notice after serving 36 years to education.

Both joined the school straight from college, when it was Heys Boys School, and have many happy memories of their time there.

Mr Worthington, who joined as an art teacher, particularly remembers a pupils versus staff tug-of-war in 1977.

He said: "We thought it was going to be a piece of cake. At first our plan was to hold them off but even that was difficult. At the end, my lungs were bursting."

The father-of-two has taken early retirement but said he probably won't stop working altogether and hopes to spend more time at his flat in North Wales.

He said: "I will miss it, but there are other things which are more appealing."

Humanities teacher Mr Webster will be best remembered by former pupils as the PE teacher, from 1968 to 1994, and his fondest memories are also of the 1970s.

He said: "I was 21-years-old when I started. It was the summer of '68 and my wage was £815 for the year. The best years were in the mid-1970s when Mr Gracewell was the head. We had lots of things going on in school to do with sport and we had some great teams. I have taught some great children but people don't realise how relentless the job is. I have had enough!"

Mr Webster's wife is also a teacher and they ended their school careers simultaneously so they could take up travelling.

He added: "First we will go on a summer holiday, then we plan to book another holiday for September 1 to celebrate not returning to school!"

Headteacher Geoff Barlow said: "Brian and Jerry have 70 years' experience together. The length of unbroken service is a rarity in this day and age and to devote that amount of time to a single community is very commendable. They will be missed."