FEEDBACK Our strong case to save school’s outdoor centre

REVEALED: The celebrity who will be switching on Huddersfield’s Christmas lights this year will be Jake Quickenden from The X Factor We have a British boxing champion who was born and lives in Huddersfield in Tyrone Nurse. Why not let him have the honour instead of Z list “celebrities” that have no connection to the town? Anna Ford, broadcaster, Don McLean, folk singer, Sir Trevor Brooking, football pundit Donna Karan, fashion designer, Richard Hell, rock singer/writer, Mike Rutherford, rock musician, Sting singer Philip Oakey, pop singer Jana Novotna, former tennis Simon Gregson, actor, I AM sure that parents of pupils at Colne Valley High School, staff, pupils past and present and former staff were as disappointed as I was to read that the chair of governors has decided to press ahead with the sale of the Peter Brook Field Centre in North Wales.

The sad thing is that the case for sale is weak on so many grounds. The interface between behaviour and learning is vital. One depends upon the other.

Children’s noses should not be held to the grindstone to the exclusion of pleasure and excitement. Children need to see positive outcomes and they need to enjoy what they are doing. A little fun helps as well. Here’s where the cottage can help. I know that the school week is less flexible than it was. I know that cover for staff at the cottage is difficult but it always was. If visits can’t go ahead midweek there is always the weekend and holidays.

We are told that other centres exist and so “the school does not need its own centre”. But the simple fact is that the school does have its own centre and can provide much more cheaply what hard pressed parents would have to dig deep to pay for, like the recent school trip to France.

We are told that the cottage needs £20,000 spent on upgrading the facilities. This figure is misleading. Our estimate is for £10,000.

We stand ready to help with finance and labour! We have even made a case to run the administration and maintenance of the centre and provide some staffing. Colne Valley High School is unique in that it is a State school with its own centre.

To sell such a facility does not make financial sense and it makes no sense educationally.

We will present our case to the Charity Commission to enable us to take over the cottage and run it for the education and personal improvement of pupils of the school.

Surely it makes sense to work with us! IT’S a strange old world isn’t it?

In the 1960s the old Colne Valley Urban District Council thought they were doing everybody a favour by recommending a site off New Hey Road at Scammonden as a suitable spot for a travellers’ encampment.

Now Kirklees planners faced with a plea for just such a thing at the same place are opposing it. Surely there must be a message hidden away in all that!