analysis

Forfar can breathe a massive sigh of relief that the Wellbrae blaze did not also visit tragedy on the town.

It was a Saturday evening too that Forfar’s former Regal cinema went up in flames and near 30-yearold memories of that incident came flooding back for many as they watched the school burn.

There is a sense of genuine sadness over the loss of a magnificent building, especially among those for whom the property in its guise as either the North Burgh School or Wellbrae Primary was their alma mater.

Against a backdrop of frustration Wellbrae had not been given a new lease of life, there is also the prospect that idle young hands may have sparked the inferno.

If that’s the case, we should be thankful another old building’s magnetic attraction did not prove fatal.