THREE of the town’s most senior politicians welcomed a familiar figure from their past to the Town Hall.

Council leader Terry O’Neill, deputy leader Mike Hannon and Mayor Clr Steve Wright all went to Sacred Heart Primary School.

And to celebrate the unique feat, they invited their former head teacher Gerard Bannon, now aged 85, to the Town Hall for a look round.

Clr Mike Hannon, deputy leader, said: “It was lovely to see him, we started to go through the memory bank.

“We decided it would be nice to invite him to the Town Hall as to get three pupils from the same school all in positions of leadership is great.”

Mr Bannon was head for more than 20 years and says he remembers all three from his teaching days.

He added: “I remember their families very well too – you did back then.

“Most of the houses were quite near to the school so you got to know them well.

“Mike Hannon was sporty as was Terry O’Neill. But they both did well in their 11-plus too.

“It was lovely to go to the Town Hall, I had never been before.

“I didn’t expect any of them to go into politics but they themselves were all saying they would never have expected that.”

Council Leader Clr Terry O’Neill also has fond memories of the school, which was based behind the current church on Liverpool Road when he attended.

He added: “As kids we all got on well together.

“Back then, there were lots of shops where the roundabout is now with electrical and food shops – it was a real community.”

Also completing his secondary modern education at Beamont, Clr O’Neill grew up on Priestley Street.

He said: “It was rugby which came first for me at school.

“I can remember walking over the bridge and walking past the Town Hall – I would never had thought I would end up as council leader.”