TWO schoolfriends who hadn't met for 42 years were reunited after a chance conversation between their husbands.

Norma Rothery (née Metcalfe) and Isabel Rossall (née Cheslett) went to Stile Common Primary and were together at Longley Hall School. They lost contact in 1961 as 17-year-old teenagers. Norma now lives in Chasetown, Staffordshire, and Isabel lives in County Durham.

The women's husbands work together on the national committee of a Methodist charity but for five years were unaware of the connection.

When they did realise, says Keith Rothery, they got a bigger shock - Isabel's mother and Keith's mother were sharing a room together in a Newsome nursing home.

Arrangements for a reunion were made and the two ladies accompanied their husbands on the next charity meeting in Manchester last month.

"And they never stopped talking for two days," says Keith. "They got on like a house on fire.

Isabel said, "The years rolled away and we were young again."

The pair are now thinking of organising a Longley Hall School reunion for girls who were there at the same time.

Norma can be contacted at 11 Hazelmere Drive, Chasetown, Staffordshire. WS7 4YP. Telephone 01543 682768, or e-mail krothery@allcomm.co.uk