A tiny Aberdeenshire school celebrated its 120th anniversary by welcoming back pupils from decades ago, who helped to release butterflies reared especially for the occasion.
The parent council of Banchory-Devenick School invited current and former pupils and staff to the building for its summer fair on Saturday, to celebrate its history and future alongside its existing 34 children.
Old photographs, letters, and other memories were put on show to take visitors on a trip down memory lane, showing how the school life used to be in days gone by.
Stalls featuring games from all throughout the school’s history helped children find out how pupils from decades past spent their time and had fun, and youngsters were also able to enjoy a go on a bouncy castle, get their faces painted, and tackle an inflatable obstacle course.
Peggy Paterson, the oldest former pupil in attendance, was joined by the youngest pupil at the school to release a smattering of beautiful butterflies in one of the highlights of the fair.
The youngsters had been raising the butterflies since they were caterpillars, and had been learning all about the nature of metamorphosis.
Sarah Stephen, the chairwoman of the parent council, said: “I think this must be one of our most successful fairs ever, we had around 230 people coming along on the day and everyone had such good fun.
“The best part for me was having all the ex-pupils and staff from all these different years reuniting, and reminiscing about their time at the school.
“The butterflies we released were a little bit reluctant at first, but we had the children dip their fingers in sugar water and they posed for some nice pictures.
“Everyone had a brilliant time.”
