This year the Horsell Village Show had a new venue at Woking High School! This gave me a special reason to go along – I was a student at Woking High. (When I started, it was known as Horsell High School.) Since I left all those years ago, I hadn’t been back.

Returning to your old school as an adult is a strange experience. Walking through the gates to pay my show entry fee, seeing the cycle racks – memories came flooding back of when I used to cycle to school along Meadway Drive, stopping at Well Lane Stores for sweets on the way. (Even back then, I had a sweet tooth.)

Walking into the school grounds, past the science block and the music block – which has changed a lot – I remembered creative arts lessons where we made stop-motion animations using what was then the latest technology. I also recalled the never-ending staircase in the corner, where a teenage me would clamber up to get to lessons on time. Happy memories indeed.

I remember having computers in the classroom for the first time in the mid-90s – big, boxy machines – and booking slots to use Encarta 96 Encyclopaedia on CD-ROM. Then there was the sports hall. I was never into sport as a child, and I’m still not to this day. That hall also hosted my GCSE exams in the late 90s.

One big change was the new Liz Kyriacou Building for visually impaired students. It’s great to see inclusivity being prioritised. I remember Mr and Mrs Kyriacou from my school days – Mr Kyriacou seemed a bit intimidating at the time, a classic figure of authority.

The Horsell Village Show, for me, represents everything good about community. There’s such a buzz in the lead-up and on the day itself. This year’s event featured stalls from community groups and local people, plus a chance to meet our MP Will Forster and his colleagues, who were there to gather views about Woking’s future. There was even a display of Damon Hill’s Jordan F1 car from 1998 – fitting, as that was the year I left school.

I loved the exhibits and the enthusiasm of those hoping to win one of the many awards on offer. It’s events like these that remind you how much local traditions matter, and how they bring people together.

They say school days are the best days of our lives. At the time, many of us don’t realise that, but as adults, we begin to appreciate how important those years were in shaping us. I’m glad I had my education in the offline world – things seemed much simpler back then.

You can listen to my shows on Radio Woking every Sunday from 9am until noon, and on Wednesdays from 7 to 9am. Tune in via www.radiowoking.co.uk, on DAB Digital Radio, or ask your smart speaker to “Play Radio Woking.” To get in touch, email [email protected] or send a voice note via www.speakpipe.com/jonandrews