A WARTIME school pupil has undertaken a major commute to her old school to organise their museum.

Catherine Martineau, 82, commutes from her home near Okehampton to Howells School in Denbigh, to make sure fascinating artefacts documenting more than 150 years of educational history are kept in good order.

Until two years ago, Catherine regularly drove the 268-mile journey from her home to Howells, but a minor stroke stopped her driving.

She joined Howells as a pupil in 1941 from the family home in Wolverhampton at the age of 10, spending seven happy years in Denbigh. When she arrived at the school, it was blacked out to avoid bombings from the Luftwaffe.

After school she went on to qualify as a PE teacher at Dartford College in Kent. She later returned to Howells in the 1980s to teach religious education before retiring in 1990.

Catherine has fond memories of Howells: 'My cousin, who was ten years older than me, had been to Howells and my father wanted to get me away from the Midlands with the blitz on.

'I really enjoyed Howells right from the start, even though not everyone does to begin with because it can be lonely and many girls got homesick, but I loved it.

'There was lots of company and you made so many friends for life. It was so well run that you couldn't do anything else but enjoy it, and I certainly did.

'Denbigh was somewhere quite new and most of the girls were boarders. There were day girls and some of them spoke Welsh, but you never heard it in school. It was also strange not seeing your parents for a whole term — these days the youngsters seem to go home at the drop of a hat.

'When I came back here in 1984 as a teacher, Denbigh had changed a bit and the girls used to ask me what it was like in my day, but a lot was still familiar.

'I think they were surprised that within a week I knew all the short cuts around the school and grounds — that was rather fun — and I caught them out a few times.

'I've enjoyed putting the museum in order, which I've done single-handedly. There are some wonderful memories in there and uniforms, magazines and memorabilia.'

Howells School trustee Nicola Locke said: 'Catherine is remarkable and has done a fantastic job with the museum, which is a real treasure trove and an important resource for local history.

'Who better than her to look after it and we're very grateful she is still doing it for us. She has the energy and vigour of a person half her age and it's wonderful to see her with the girls who are here now.

'We have archive film of the school and she watches it with them, and she can really bring it alive because she knows so many of the people involved.

'She transmits that enthusiasm for the school and its traditions to today's generation.'