Former Startforth school may become village hall

CORRIDORS of a closed school will be deserted no longer as plans to rejuvenate the site take shape.
Startforth Morritt Memorial Primary School officially shut to pupils late last year after Durham County Council’s unpopular decision.

Colin Clarke outside the former school

But trustees of the Morritt Memorial Fund have arranged a caretaker to open up the building and are seeking groups and organisations to make use of it.
Villager and fund trustee Colin Clarke said the water and heating had been turned back on.
He added: “We’re hoping to get people in like Keep Fit.
“It’s really a marvellous set of buildings and the ones on the village side are only 20 years old. We would not want it to go derelict like the old school in Middleton.”
With no shop, no village hall, and no school, community facilities in Startforth are short on the ground.
Meanwhile, land near Deerbolt Young Offenders’ Institute has been earmarked for 162 houses and a further 65 homes are planned for further up the village.
Startforth Parish Council used the school for a meeting last Wednesday (February 1) and Mr Clarke was confident the school could play a community role.
He added: “We’ve got no village hall – the only community space is the church so it would be nice to use this.
“We have got a trust fund which is for education in Startforth so we could support a nursery or a free school – which has been mentioned.
“But for the time being it would just be local concerts and things like that which people want to hold.”
The Morritt Fund contains an estimated £133,000 – raised mainly from the sale of old cottages which used to house teachers in the late 19th century.
However, conditions stipulate the money must be used for educational purposes – limiting its uses.
Mr Clarke added: “We used to write a cheque every six months to the school for trips and visits.
“Obviously, we had to pay for the school’s recommissioning but it’s possible the Leeds Diocese might pay some of the funds.”
The Diocese of Leeds owns the school building and was looking into using the site for community use in December.
Former school governor Sandra Moorhouse revealed she tried to find out from the diocese whether the buildings could be used by villagers in the months before its closure.
She added: “It needs to be used otherwise it’s going to fall apart – everyone hoped it would be for the community.
“When we [Barnard Castle Town Council] were talking about the big housing development, we were saying maybe they should be looking at a doctor’s surgery or a shop for all those additional people. I just hope they can get something set up there but how long they can run it for, I don’t know.”
For information on availability of the buildings contact Startforth Church members, Christine Smith 01833 695196 or Colin Clarke 07802 855604.