YOUNG voices from the past were among the treasures unearthed in a school time capsule.

The capsule, made out of a plastic drainpipe, was revealed to current pupils of Grove Primary School, Malvern, in a special assembly.

The items would have reamined undiscovered but for former school pupils who let school staff know about the treasures beneath their feet.

These included a copy of the Malvern Gazette front page dated Friday, June 6, 1986, with the headline ‘Circus Hit By Animal Cranks’ The Grove Junior School, as it was called at the time, had been open 25 years when the pupils helped bury the capsule near a tree at what was then the front entrance.

Former headmaster Philip Jelf remembers being there to see the capsule buried and six former pupils turned up for the grand opening.

Current headmaster Tony Vater said that apart from a bit of damp the items had survived remarkably well, including an audio cassette recording of pupils from the 1980s.

He said: “I had to explain what the cassette was to our current pupils. But it still played. It was pupils saying what they liked doing, what the Top Ten of the music charts was. Spitting Image’s The Chicken Song seems to have been a favourite.”

Marbles, a deck of Transformers playing cards, a map of 1986 Malvern and 10p and 20p were also found.

Marc Richards, aged 33, of Poolbrook, Malvern, was a former pupil there to witness the capsule opening.

“We had a good laugh listening to the tape,” he said.

“We’ve been talking about digging it up for years so fair play to the school for listening to us.”