With 2008 marking the 25th anniversary of girls first attending St Edmund’s School Canterbury, its alumni association is hoping for a strong female turnout at the President’s Annual Dinner on 15 November.

The St Edmund’s Society’s current president Karen Millburn (née Stringer) – the first woman to be elected to the post – joined the senior school as a sixth-former in 1984, the year after full-scale admissions for girl pupils began.

Mrs Millburn said: “I look back at my two years at St Edmund’s with very fond memories and would encourage former pupils, female and male, to celebrate the 25th anniversary by coming along on 15 November. It will be a wonderful opportunity to pick up threads of friendship and reunite past and present lives.”

The school profile has changed considerably since Mrs Millburn was a pupil with 215 girls now accounting for more than 40 per cent of the total number across the Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior school.

Looking back on her time at the school, when girl pupils were still something of a novelty, Mrs Millburn said: “My early days were made easier by having two younger brothers at the school and my Baker housemaster, David Knight, helped me to settle in quickly. I remember our first netball match was against The King’s School and finding seven players was a struggle, although we managed a 1-1 draw! The girls are now, of course, fully integrated into school life.”

The President’s Annual Dinner is being held at the Best Western Abbotts Barton Hotel in New Dover Road.

For more information contact the school at society@stedmunds.org.uk