A BOOK will be produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of Colne Valley High School.

The volume, titled Adventure On: Celebrating 50 Years of Colne Valley High School, will tell of the early days of the Linthwaite school, which opened on January 11, 1956.

It was the first comprehensive school around Huddersfield and the largest in the former West Riding of Yorkshire.

Before the school was built, Colne Valley pupils were sent to three different types of secondary across Huddersfield - secondary modern for vocational education, grammar schools for academic education and technical schools for science and engineering.

The book is due to be published by Cleckheaton-based Amadeus Press in May.

It has been put together by a group of former teachers who have formed the Colne Valley High School 50th Anniversary Book Committee.

They are former English teacher Charlie Adamson, former head of English Andrew Pearson, former head of modern languages Suzanne Nicholas, ex-head of art Alan Marchington, former history teacher and head of careers Brian Moriarty and Vivien Teasdale, who was head of business studies.

Between them, the ex-staff members have over 150 years of teaching experience at Colne Valley High School.

It was Mr Adamson, of Netherton, who came up with the idea of writing a book.

He said: "I was doing a local history course last year at university and spent a lot of time in the reference library.

"I realised there were a lot of books about local institutions, but none about Colne Valley High School.

"Someone told me the 50th anniversary was coming up, so I thought about putting a book together.

"We intended it to be a 30 page A4 booklet, but it has mushroomed because we have had so many contributions."

The committee has been collating material about the school since the beginning of 2005.

This includes anecdotes from former teachers and pupils, background about the building of the school and its opening and a timeline, charting big events in the school's history.

There are also mentions of former pupils who have gone on to great things - including former England rugby player Paul Dixon and poet Simon Armitage, who has allowed some of his work to be featured in the book.

There will be 1,000 copies of the book printed.

This will cost the committee around £6,000.

To help cover the bill, they have been raising funds.

They have also received donations, including £250 raised by staff at the Meltham Crossroads Project, a community centre provided by Meltham Churches Together.

* The school opened its doors on January 11, 1956.

* The first headmaster was Ernest Butcher, 36, from Barnsley. He had 37 teachers working under him.

* The school had 850 pupils on the roll when it opened. Today, there are 1,436 pupils in the school.

* The aim was to get every child in the Colne Valley to attend the school from the age of 11.

* A sixth form was later added for 16 to 18 year olds, offering vocational and academic courses.

* The school cost £330,000 to build and covered 38 acres, including rugby, football, hockey and cricket pitches and tennis courts.

* It had 36 classrooms, two gyms, three halls, five laboratories, woodwork, engineering and metalwork rooms, a library and music and drama rooms.

* Unusual features included two lifts - one for pupils, the other for goods - and a model `flat' where girls were taught `housecraft'.