CHILDREN enjoyed the sights and sounds of a bygone Christmas when they visited Ormesby Hall last Friday.

More than 80 youngsters from Ormesby Primary School were invited by the National Trust to re-create an estate family Christmas party as it would have been in the Thirties and Forties.

The parties were always a feature of the traditional social events at the hall when it was owned by Col James Pennyman and his wife, Ruth.

The children met Santa Claus and talked to Margaret Parker, Edna Kelly and Raymond Wood, who attended the Christmas events at the hall in their childhood.

They also heard from the memoirs of William Hugonin, of Alnwick, the only remaining cousin of the Pennyman family, who remembers happy times at Ormesby Hall.

Liz Hayward, the trust's education officer at the hall, said: "The children absolutely loved it. They were thrilled and will remember it for a long time."