Murier’s Village grows thanks to Swimarathon

LE MURIER SCHOOL’S Village project received a donation which should see it being able to create two new log cabins on the site, courtesy of the Skipton Swimarathon.

Le Murier School’s Village Hall was chosen as the venue for presentations to 12 companies which won awards for raising £500, £1,000 or £1,500. The Swimarathon charity event donated £30,000 to the school, which will be used to extend the village with two log cabins. Making the presentation was Swimarathon organising committee chairman Nick Guillemette, left of pupils, and receiving it was the school’s outdoor learning co-ordinator, Gary Dovey, standing behind the pupils. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 23201604)

So far a village hall has been built on land behind the school, complete with a commercial kitchen where students are going to be able to learn important life skills, as well as practice with a view to going into the catering trade.

But the £30,000 presented by the Swimarathon organising committee will see the project growing with the addition of two log cabins on the site.

Le Murier’s outdoor learning co-ordinator, Gary Dovey, said the goal was for four cabins to be built, plus a campsite and a pond.

The students have also requested a farm, so he said the school would be looking at having goats, sheep and chickens.

Swimarathon organising committee chairman Nick Guillemette presented Mr Dovey and a group of pupils with the cheque at a ceremony held in The Village Hall, during which the committee also gave out medals to organisations which had raised the most money from the event.

Twelve projects had asked for funding from the committee, he said: ‘But this one really captured our imagination, because you could see what had been done. It wasn’t just a plan on paper.

‘Personally I think this ranks as one of the best we’ve ever done,’ he told the audience.

Mr Dovey said that the aim of The Village was to give all students access to residential facilities, not just those who were able to take advantage of the school trips out of the island every year.

It would help teach them valuable life skills, he said, adding that among the other areas still to be built was a shop, paid for by the Channel Islands Co-op, where the students could experience both running a shop as well as using it to buy items.

The project started raising funds some five years ago, with the total cost expected to be about £530,000. Mr Dovey said that it was now some £70,000 short of the total.

Mr Guillemette presented bronze, silver and gold medals to representatives of the 12 corporate groups which had raised the most, representing amounts raised of more than £500, £1,000 and £1,500 respectively.

The one gold award winner was Skipton International itself, whose commercial director Aaron Walden said that the staff had thrown themselves into fundraising with more than 20 swimmers taking part in the Swimarathon and they also organised other events such as cake sales.

The company had then matched the money raised to take it up to £1,500.