FORMER staff at the Andover Advertiser reunited at the Wolversdene Club on Friday last week to reflect on their times together.

Around 70 colleagues, some of which worked for the newspaper as far back as the 1970s at the Holmes & Son office, gathered to catch up with old friends in an evening that had been talked about for a decade.

Organisers Karen Pumfrey and Wendy Padley, former advertising managers at The Advertiser, decided to finally set up a reunion in October 2017 and were ‘gobsmacked’ with the final turnout.

Ms Pumfrey said: “We’ve been talking about this for ten years and we’ve finally done it.

“Honestly it just started off with thinking just a few people would be interested and then lots of people saying they would love to.

“It just spiralled, I’m so gobsmacked how many people turned up.

“When the AA was in the now Wetherspoons, we used to have a shop down there that sold stationery and crockery. All the girls who worked at the shop, they all turned up. It was so sweet, they are all in their 70s now.

“Everybody made it what it was, it was down to everybody putting the effort in.”

A slideshow was also presented to the group showing a throwback through the decades of the newspaper, up to the end of its London Street office days.

Editorial staff who joined the Friday night gathering included Joe Scicluna, Steve Dancey, Ann Shaw, Marie Spanswick and Joe Faretra.

Organisers hope to stage another reunion in the near future.