It was the day when the school turned out in all its uniformed glory to celebrate achievement and honour success. For many years the event was held at the The Co-operative Hall, Derby, next to Northcliffe House - the home of the Derby Evening Telegraph. I remember the choir slogging through The Road to Mandalay under the watchful eye of Harold Simpson. One year he caught his baton in the buttons of his waistcoat and nearly dropped it. Flustered and embarrassed he caught up with a choir stifling back its guffaws! Joking aside, I always loved the singing of the School Song at speech day: Centaur, they sons before thee proudly stand. Yes - with a full school singing to Boss Swaine's magnificent tune, parents watching from the balcony, and  dignitaries on the stage,  I was seldom more moved to swell with pride. We all were. We loved this school.

For years I watched others parade across the stage to be presented with prizes while pain gnawed at me for being only an also ran - until one day, to my immense relief, I also took my place amongst the academic worthies.

The pictures below were taken by Raymond's News Agency for the DET and at some point passed on from Boss Swaine to Jim Lingard for his safe keeping. Send us your Speech Day stories for publication here.