Harwich school library bus finally ready after vandalism

The head teacher said she had been trying to instil a love of reading since her arrival in 2017

A primary school has finally opened its double-decker library bus more than three years after it was vandalised.

The bus was given to The Mayflower Primary School in Harwich, Essex, in 2018, but plans to restore and open it were hampered when its windows were smashed in 2020.

Following a fundraising drive that reached more than £30,000, it is due to open to pupils on Wednesday.

"We are delighted," said head teacher Liz Bartholomew.

"We finally have ourselves a library."

The double-decker library bus has seating areas for the pupils

An anonymous donor paid for the bus to be craned to the school courtyard, before it was then restored and decorated

Parts of the playground were also vandalised during the incident in January 2020 and there was damage to a classroom wall containing asbestos.

Pupils Zain and Zach got the ball rolling in the following weeks, setting up an online fundraising page that received more than £2,000 in donations within weeks, just before the school closed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Local resident Michael Crosby - whose late wife Brenda Crosby was cared for by someone associated with the school - donated an extra £10,000.

A plaque has been fixed to the bus in her memory.

Zain (left), who is still a pupil at the school, and his brother Zach - pictured in 2020 - helped raise more than £2,000

An anonymous donor paid for the bus to be craned into the school's courtyard, while other funds came from the Parent Teacher Association and the school budget.

Local graffiti artist Adrian Leroy has painted a mural on the exterior of the vehicle.

"The love of reading is something we have been trying to instil in our pupils since I walked through the door here six years ago," said Ms Bartholomew.

The school library in recent years has consisted of two shelving units in a corridor.