PUPILS have had the chance to travel back in time more than half a century, thanks to an exciting discovery at their school.

Youngsters at St Osmund's RC Primary School have found a tiny piece of history in their classroom.

The Breightmet primary school has been undergoing a revamp and when the caretaker took down a pinboard from a wall he discovered the signatures of the men who built the school back in 1951.

None of the staff, including the headteacher, John Thorpe, had any idea that the signatures were hidden away in the Year Two classroom.

The men who had signed the wall were working for W Gaskell and Son joiner and builders based at High Street in Bolton and a builders company called W Gornall and Sons.

Staff have used the signatures to try and explain the idea of duration to the six-year-olds who have been fascinated by the old fashioned handwriting.

But the graffiti will soon disappear again as the school is having hi-tech computer smartboards installed where the old pinboard was. Renovation work at the Blenheim Road school has also unearthed an old shilling and a farthing hidden behind the children's coat pegs.

Mr Thorpe said: "We're guessing that the men who left the signatures would have been at school in the 1920s or 1930s, so their handwriting is very different in appearance.

"It was a great surprise for us to find the signatures, but the children were excited because the 1950s seems such a long time ago to them.

"They're starting to understand that the dinosaurs were a very long time ago and that the 1950s are much nearer in time."

Did any of our readers help to build the school and leave their signatures behind? If so, call our newsdesk on 01204 537270.