We went out for a meal, had a few drinks (responsibly of course – we are almost 40, after all) – and were home by 11.30, but even so it was a terrific evening and we all enjoyed catching up.

The great thing is that our friendship has just got stronger over time, to the point we are now celebrating having known each other for 30 years.

It's quite an achievement and I don't know many people who can say they are still best buddies with the people they knew from school.

We are all very different women; enjoy different interests and different jobs, but somehow we all blend together really well as a group, and in fact when I think of the jobs we all do, we are pretty much got all bases covered.

For instance, one of my friends is a doctor of psychology (she's there to sort out our heads on a regular basis); two work in the travel industry (useful for cheap holidays); one is an accountant (ideal for tax and mortgage questions); and two are teachers (great for playing Scrabble online).

When I look back there have been no parts of my life that haven't been witnessed by my old friends. Over the years we have seen boyfriends come and go, weddings, babies, and much more. When we were teenagers we chatted about the likes of make-up, Wham! and Top of the Pops.

Of course as we get older, we still talk non-stop, but now it's more on the lines of wrinkle creams, support bras and obscure Channel 4 documentaries.

When we were at school I always liked to think of us as The Pink Ladies – the group of girls from the hit movie Grease.

As we got older I likened us to the women from Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. However, as we head towards 40, some of us have started on a slippery slope.

For instance, one of my friends has always enjoyed "old" music such as Elvis and Rod Stewart, but has recently admitted to listening to Barry Manilow too. Now I don't mind admitting this revelation has come as something of a shock to me, and it's got me wondering just how long it will be before I have to ditch our comparisons to the Desperate Housewives and start liking us to the Golden Girls instead!