TWO old school friends bumped into each other - on the summit of a windswept mountain, 8,500 miles from home.

Jim Anderson and Brian Place, who are both in the forces, had not seen each other for 22 years, since they were classmates.

However, they had a bizarre chance meeting on a remote island in the West Falklands.

Royal Logistics Corps warrant officer Anderson said yesterday: "It is absolutely incredible.

"I can't believe that, in one of the remotest islands in the South Atlantic, we have been reunited.

"This place is in the middle of nowhere. It is accessible only by helicopter.

"Brian still has a bit of a Geordie accent, so we got chatting. It turned out that we were both at Gosforth High School in Newcastle in 1979.

"We didn't immediately recognise each other, because you lose your hair and things over the years. Then we discovered we had a lot of mutual friends - and even girlfriends."

WO Anderson, 38, joined the Army straight after leaving school, in 1979, and is due to return to the North-East this summer.

The pair have planned to meet up and tour their old haunts.

RAF sergeant Place, 37, said: "I have been out on this island for about three months.

"Jim came on a liaison trip from the East Falklands and we got talking about when we were kids.

"I couldn't believe it when we realised we had gone to the same school. It is an amazing coincidence.

"I did not recognise Jim, because he was a weedy little kid- and now he is a huge monster.

"I am going back to the UK in a couple of months, and we are definitely going to keep in touch.

"We have already planned a pub crawl around our old haunts in Gosforth."