HELP SAVE OUR SCHOOL!

Hi, my name is Carole House and myself along with fellow villagers are fundraising to save our village school.

We are reaching out to you in the hope you might be able to help us save our village school. It's a lovely old school but it's now under threat of auction and potential demolition. we have formed a small steering committee to fight for it's survival. This is driven by our hearts and minds because we love this school and we want to do our best for our children. It is also because there is a desperate need for a preschool in the area, especially one with wraparound childcare.

There is not enough places to accommodate this need in the Blandford area, and with new housing being built every day, it is essential we save this precious school and purchase it as a village asset for generations of children to come. Our aim is to re-open it as Winterborne Stickland Nursery School.

Please could you help us in our aim to nurture children at this crucial formative age. We desperately need to raise funds and are under pressure to do it quickly. We're just hoping that people like you might feel our campaign is important and contribute something to help us reach our goal.

The power of a small community working together should never be under-estimated. We have amazing support from villagers donating their professional expertise free of charge to a team of elderly ladies who are busily knitting blankets for the prospective baby room as a gift from the village of Winterborne Stickland.

There is a well-known saying: 'It takes a village to raise a child'. We fervently believe this and we will do all we can to achieve that. We have been working hard towards achieving our goal, and have set up as a CIC with a company number and a bank account.

BUT...we do not have the building!! The Salisbury Diocese, who are the trustees of the school, want to sell it at auction for £320K! We have made great efforts to reach that goal but are struggling to raise the full amount.

There are children who were displaced from the closure of the previous preschool who still have nowhere to go, some have registered at preschools in our local town but have to wait until a child leaves to access a placement. Which tells us, that alongside our research, a preschool is very much needed.

If you can help in any way at all, we would be extremely grateful.

EVERY PENNY COUNTS AND EVERY CHILD MATTERS.