Eastbourne School in Darlington excites many emotions. Here's another contribution to the debate about what should happen to it when this school year finishes and the new academy opens in September.

From Judith Robb:

It is very commendable that many wish to keep the old school building but have they thought of the upkeep of the building? Having worked there for many years I remember leaking glass corridors upstairs with buckets and puddles on the floor when it rained. Classrooms which were too hot to teach in when the sun shone in summer. The same rooms were too cold in winter due to the ancient heating system. I ended up with a classroom above the boiler room and taught, even when it was snowing, with the windows open as there were no valves on the radiators to turn them off or down. The further from the boiler the colder it became. Let the old building go. Memories remain forever.

Can I take you to task about it being Miss Fenby's School? It was "their schools" as they were run as separate units. Mr Welford was highly regarded throughout the town not just in the school. He did a lot of work for the communitity and if I remember correctly was a JP. He remembered his pupils long after they had left and twenty years later could put a name to a face. He was a man of some standing.