When the Pope descended the aircraft steps on his historic visit to England in 1982 a member of airport staff was watching eagle-eyed to see where the pontiff would plant a kiss to celebrate his arrival. John Paul II is well known for kissing the ground as he sets foot on foreign soil and he did not disappoint on this occasion. The spot was duly marked and a core of concrete around the site lifted from the airport apron, mounted on a plinth and then put into the wall of the chapel at the South Terminal where it remained for a long time beneath a photograph marking the visit. The memento has now found its way to a new home at St Philip's Catholic Primary School, in Uckfield, presented by the grandfather of two children attending the school. Gerry Edwards was deputy police commander at Gatwick at the time and appeared in the photograph with the Pope. He thought no more about it until recently when by chance, as he set up a group for retired police officers, he met an ex-sergeant whose wife worked as a secretary at the airport and who was looking for a new home for the photograph and concrete. 'I've been desperately trying to find someone in the Catholic hierarchy to accept and display it but nobody seemed interested. The attitude seemed to be that the Pope had kissed thousands of places in the world,' said Mr Edwards. Eventually his daughter Katie Potts, who lives in Uckfield, suggested she ask whether her children's school would like the stone and it is on display there now. 'I thought it was important because it was the first time a Pope had been here for 500 years. I was absolutely delighted to be able to give it to the school,' said Mr Edwards.