YEARS of memories were buried in a time capsule by students from Portfield School yesterday.

The youngsters at The Wessex Autistic Society’s school in West Parley had built the capsule as part of their recent 40th anniversary celebrations.

Full of historic photographs, modern drawings, current activities and plans for the next few years, the time capsule was buried at the school by a group of youngsters and staff.

The school council at Portfield evolved the idea several months ago and since then have been busily encouraging all staff and students to make contributions to the capsule, which was donated by CSE Citation Centre.

Jenny Woodford, behaviour support worker, has has co-ordinated the project.

She said: “The time capsule idea was thought up by the students who attend our school council meetings who wanted to include drawings and information about themselves, so that people in the future would be able to see how the school changes over the years.

“All the staff and students have been fascinated to reflect on how far Portfield has come since it first opened in 1971 and we wanted to create a snapshot of life in 2012 to share with future generations.

“Both wings of the school had group photos taken and our four residential houses also included information about activities and events that go on in the evenings and weekends, including a copy of their residential newsletter.

“Other items relating to the school including fundraising, the specialist support team, and activities such as horse-riding were also included. We would like to thank everyone involved in helping to make our time capsule so special.”

She added: “This has been a wonderful way for our current students to mark our anniversary and we very much look forward to creating lots more memories to treasure.”

For more information on the Wessex Autistic Society or Portfield School please visit <&bh"http://www.twas.org.uk">www.twas.org.uk<&eh> or call 01202 573808.