CARRIE Thomason was so animal crackers she demanded to have four-legged friends at her 11th birthday party.

Not content with her own, dog, gerbils and mouse, Carrie from Church Road, Kearsley, begged her mum Eileen to stage her birthday tea down on the farm. Thanks to Fred Tyldesley, head of Rural Studies at Deane School, Carrie got her wish, in June 1988.

As well as her brother Mathew, aged seven, and other two-legged guests, Carrie was hostess to goat kids and piglets at the school farm.

The animal guests showed they knew how to behave, although they looked longingly at Carrie’s birthday treats.

But they even managed to leave the pig-shaped birthday cake for the children to enjoy.

Deane Base School pupils, Darren Cunniffe, and Carle Ward, both aged 15, were on hand to see the animals did not get over-excited.

Luckily, although there was plenty of kidding around, nobody made a pig of themselves! Carrie, who is in the centre of today’s photograph is pictured with her cake, party friends and some of the animals.