Village hall opens to families after school fire

Heather Lloyd and Helen Williams from the St Martins village hall

Opening a village hall to families affected by a serious fire at a school has brought the community together, its chair of trustees has said.

Part of St Martins School, near Oswestry, Shropshire, went up in flames on Sunday afternoon, resulting in damage to its roof, arts centre, diner and utilities, and closing the school for the remainder of the week.

But immediately, people rallied to help - including at St Martins village hall, which has become a hub for parents, teachers, and students to collect free school meals and printed work to do at home.

"There's so many benefits to just opening the access for people to come in," said Helen Williams.

"Without the school, the local schoolchildren are obviously having to stay at home - where can they collect their papers from to do some homework? Where can the teachers meet to discuss how to move forward?" she added.

"A lot of parents want to see a teacher face-to-face."

The fire started on Sunday afternoon at the back of the school

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

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

The community response to the incident has been mammoth. On Tuesday, a fundraiser organised in less than 24 hours raised more than £2,500 to replace school equipment.

"Parents are meeting together outside and arranging - 'If you have my children tomorrow, can I have yours on Friday?'" said Ms Williams.

"It's really brought people together even more."

She said she did not know how long the hall, completely run by volunteers, would remain open to those affected.

"That's entirely dependent on the school's assessors and repairers, and how quickly they can sort out access," she added.

"We're just all helping each other."