'I loved school and everything it entailed'

Sue Hargreaves (formerly Curtis) left RGS in 1974 after taking A-levels in art, biology, English and general studies.

She went on to train as a physiotherapist at the Middlesex Hospital: “My old headmaster, Ronald Atkinson, would be turning in his grave! He always wanted students to go to university and I went into healthcare.”

But her RGS education was put to good use: “I came out with the top four of the physiotherapy diplomas in London and worked as a physio for many years, achieving some really excellent results,” she says.

She went on to work at Bristol Royal infirmary and then Keynsham Hospital. In 1989 she got a job at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and spent 28 years there before looking after her husband for five years before his death in 2016

“The most important things I have discovered are that whatever your challenges in life they can be overcome. I like to see people as worthy whatever, it’s not about what they look like or what they have achieved.”

Now retired, Sue keeps busy: “My main aims in life are to help people in need and I support Shelter and the Sally Army,” she says.

Involved in singing and drama at RGS, she played Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore: “I love singing and Phillip Miles was just wonderful.

"My favourite teachers at school were Phillip Miles and SAS (art), and I really feel that there is a connection with people I was at school with, certainly gave me an insight into other people’s lives.

"I loved school and everything it entailed," she says.