HANDS off our school! This mini-army was preparing for battle back in 1983.

In this photograph from the Lancashire Telegraph archives, youngsters from Barrow School near Whalley had donned special t-shirts and were getting ready to publicly protest about proposals to close the village school.

Clearly the youngster on the right of the photograph was just too cool to dress like his classmates, preferring instead a denim jacket for the occasion.

Whether it was down to the efforts of the pupils or not, the story does have a happy ending and Barrow School remains very much part of the community today.

Do you recognise anyone on the photo? Perhaps you were one of the ‘protesters’.

If you have any photographs of life in East Lancashire in days gone by you can email them to gill.johnson@nqnw.co.uk or call her on 01254 298223.