Balloon event for fire-struck school raises £2.5k

Five balloons lifted off in aid of the school

A hot air balloon event organised less than 24 hours after a major fire forced Shropshire school to shut has raised more than £2,500.

Part of St Martins School, near Oswestry, was engulfed in flames on Sunday afternoon, resulting in damage to its roof, arts centre, diner and utilities.

Rainbow Hot Air Balloon Team, based in the area, scrambled to send balloons up from The Keys pub in St Martins on Tuesday evening, with the aim of getting funds together for the school to buy new equipment.

"The most magical moment of the evening was the fire brigade… they turned up to say hello and everybody just cheered, everybody was just clapping," said pilot Luis Arias.

The fire broke out on Sunday afternoon

"We planned this in literally less than 24 hours, we didn't want it to get out of hand - we wanted to show a little bit of support, unite the community, raise a bit of money," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"We managed to get five [balloons] up and honestly, we didn't expect it to go so well."

Luis Arias said the team wanted to unite the community

"I was flying, I wanted to take off first," said Mr Arias.

"We did two balloons at a time, every half an hour.

"It was a lot of people, the pub garden was literally full of people."

He said the company had always wanted to get a yearly event together to raise money for school equipment, and after the fire, they knew they needed to jump at the chance to organise something.

"This was the perfect opportunity and the perfect weather… we thought it's either now or never," he added.

'Fire not deliberate'

Crews were called to the school at about 17:15 BST on Sunday after flames and smoke were reported coming from the school hall.

On Tuesday it was announced that the school would be closed for the rest of the week, with no timetable on when it would reopen.

Pupils are continuing with remote learning, and the school was working towards alternatives for next week.

A cause has not yet been identified, but the school's head teacher, Alison Pope, suggested earlier this week that it may have been something to do with solar panels.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed it was not started deliberately.