Staff and pupils at Kendal's Queen Katherine School were set to be glued to their television screens in 1986 to watch two of the sixth formers try their luck on the ITV quiz show Blockbusters.

Ian Morgan, 17, and Scott Bowskill, 18, first made their mark in a school house Blockbuster competition and then, along with four other Queen Katherine pupils, travelled down to Manchester for an interview with Central TV.

They were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the television version and had spent four very exciting days down in Nottingham recording two programmes, which were due to be screened on December 17 and 18.

Ian, who lived on Burneside Road, Kendal, and Scott, of Rustland Park, Kendal, reached their third game before being knocked out. They also successfully completed one nerve-wracking gold run, which won them a stereo radio cassette player to add to their other prizes - £220 cash, Filofax and a Blockbuster dictionary and sweatshirt.

The atmosphere in the studio was very relaxed as they waited with the other 20 contestants for their turn to play Blockbusters, they said. Four programmes were recorded each day so the pair had plenty of time to watch and listen before sitting in the hot seat.

Ian said: "Everybody came back with about 20 new friends. Everybody was really friendly."

In fact it was through one of the competitors they beat that Queen Katherine was now sending a team to the international competition Schools Challenge in February 1987.

In 1991 the library at Queen Katherine School was being upgraded.

The records were being computerised. The library had also recently bought 40 new reader chairs with £1,000 donated by the Parent Teachers Association.

The library had always been a centre point for the school, said acting librarian Ben Goodman and it was being upgraded to keep pace with the information revolution.

It was hoped a new television with teletext and a compact disc unit which stored data would be installed shortly.