Vandal-hit school set to get new play shed

●● The remains of the shed after vandals destroyed it at St James School, Haslingden. Veteran Joe Davis with pupils from St James STUART PIKE

AFORMER pupil has offered to replace a primary school play area after it was destroyed by vandals.

Pupils at St James CE in Haslingden were left devastated when the shed was destroyed by youths earlier this year.

The play shed was installed by Veterans In Communities (VIC) as part of playground improvements.

It had been vandalised previously, but then it could be repaired, however this time it was left in pieces.

Former St James pupil Musfequr Choudhury, who jointly owns Hall and Hanley compensation specialists in Manchester, contacted VIC’s operations manager Bob Elliott after reading of the vandalism and offered the schoolchildren a new shed.

Musfequr said: “I used to go to the school in the 1980s and my mum Sufia retired three years ago as a teaching assistant. I have happy memories.

“When I read about what had happened I discussed it with my business partner Urfan Bhatti and we agreed that our business would donate a new shed to the school.

“My daughter Ayaana is four and attends nursery at St James, but we are moving to another area of Haslingden so unfortunately she won’t be able to go to the primary school.

“When the shed has been put up I would like to go back to school to have a look.”

While the vandalised play shed was unable to be rebuilt, its raw materials have not gone to waste.

The sides of the shed have gone to form bespoke bin storage for the veterans centre in Haslingden, and the roof will be recycled for a noticeboard that is being made for Weir Pride.

Bob said: “We think we may have found the way the teenagers who vandalised the shed have been getting into the school grounds so we sent a works party and they fitted some fencing that should make it harder for them to get in.

“We will monitor this before we erect the new shed. As usual we have used recycled pallets to make the fence and will apply some paint over the next week.

“We removed all the parts of the old shed and we have recycled them at our centre in Bury Road.”