A DORCHESTER resident had a surprise when she opened up the Dorset Echo to come face to face with her 12-year-old self.

The 90-year-old then became the star guest at the Friends of Crossways Library’s re-launch of the local history group, which featured the photo in a presentation.

More than 20 people greeted Joyce and admired the original snapshot that she had brought along to the meeting. Mrs Ray said: “I used to attend Sunday School at All Saints Church in Dorchester and this was our annual outing to Weymouth in the summer of 1935.

“We were only there for just the day with our teacher Mrs Hilda Parker, but we all took our cases and wore our berets. “It was a real old wet and windy day, but we had a wonderful time, and looked forward to the 1936 outing.”

Liz Callister, chairman of the Friends of Crossways Library, said: “This has been a jolly good start to the re-launch of the history group, but we really didn’t expect a part of this living history was going to turn up!”

She said Dorset’s Living Memories, an online archive of memories of people who spent their childhood, working life or retirement in Dorset, has set the ball rolling for the Friends’ monthly meetings.

The next Friends of Crossways Library meeting is on Tuesday, June 17 at 7.30pm. It features a talk by Rob Curtis on Turnpikes and Dorset Coaching Days.

Dorset’s Living Memories archive can be found at ageuk.org.uk/dorchester For more details email memories@acdorchester.org