I want to open a school
By p1kef1sh
@p1kef1sh (45681)
July 1, 2008 2:34pm CST
I went to school today. A modern monstrosity built originally in the 1950's but expanded in the 70s. It is on three levels and large enough to house 300 pupils. Outside there are 13 acres of playing fields, tennis courts and a basketball court. But most spectacular is the view. A vast vista of rolling English countryside speckled with the gold of soon to be harvested wheat, the green of fields where cows and sheep quietly graze. A bare field with small huts that shelter the pigs that live there. Behind them, on the ridge, a copse over which the buzzards whirl as the thermals catch them, whilst their brother the Kestrel hovers desperately clutching at the air in fear of falling and squashing the small animal life that is his meal. To the left of my vantage point I can see in the distance the tall spire of Salisbury Cathedral beckoning us to the delights of church and town. Closer, the gorgeously ornate Italianate church of the small town above which the school lies brooding on its hill.
But I am alone. The school closed in August 2005. The ghosts of children swirl about me. Dodging around me. Kicking their footballs, playing hopscotch on the now faded chequer. I see them, clad in their sports kit, traipsing out to the basketball court. Spilling across the path; a harassed, impatient Gym teacher cajoling them, telling them to hurry. Do the stragglers really want to spend the next forty five minutes running around the grounds. He takes the proffered notes from Mums. Denzil has a rash, Mary a verucca, he's seen them all. There's the school caretaker leaving his cottage in the grounds. He's after the smokers having a crafty smoke behind the bike sheds. All this life charges around me. Yet I am alone. Deserted in this place that previously was a hive of activity. There are no plans for this property now. The authorities don't have the money to maintain it as a school. So it will slowly decay until, one day, 200 or 300 houses will be built there and the occupants will need to find a school for their children.
Do you know of any deserted buildings that should have a life again?
7 people like this
11 responses
@dorypanda (1601)
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2 Jul 08
That sounds so sad and you picture it so wonderfully. Yes, there are quite a few tumble down places round where I live, if you remember the song, "Ghost Town" by the specials, you'll probably know it was written about Coventry, which is a city near to me, unfortunately the same can now be said for my own town. There is a small row of what used to be houses and shops near to a car park, they've been abandoned and empty for years now, I remember when I was small, the one at the end used to be a cake shop, but they moved to a place across the road. There's also a tumble down cottage near to where I used to go to school, it would be beautiful and probably worth a fortune if someone were to repair it.
I do get quite upset seeing buildings all delapidated, buildings should be looked after and lived in and actually used.
It annoys me too that certain people can't get a house because apparently there aren't enough council houses to go around, but then there are lots of tumble down houses that are sitting round doing nothing for anyone besides looking like eyesores.
1 person likes this
@dorypanda (1601)
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2 Jul 08
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=28TeUbYvXS0 (That should be a link to the song)
@p1kef1sh (45681)
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2 Jul 08
I felt that there was so much potential there Dory. But nobody cares about it. I don't know that song, but I agree most heartily that it is quite wrong, criminal in fact, that houses should be left to decay whilst people need homes. One family in particular!
1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11833)
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1 Jul 08
I live in a village which at it's peak was home to about 50 people. Now it is just my family plus another couple. There are two other houses maintained for occassional use. Every other building is abandoned and slowly falling down. They look absolutely charming, but it's criminal that these homes are falling down for want of a bit of care. Even my own home is half ruined, awaiting the day when I have enough time and money to rebuild it.
This village is not unusual for the region, and even the busiest towns have buildings which are slowly decaying and falling to ruin.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
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1 Jul 08
What a nightmare house purchase must be there. What happens if, having found your long lost brother, he doesn't want to sell? Presumably the whole sale can fall through in such circumstances. It's good that people are coming back though. Here the country seems to be increasingly inhabited by people that make their money in the towns and cities, but like a little "somewhere" to show off to their friends at the weekend. I generalise of course. But there are ghost villages during the week, that groan with Range Rovers at the weekends.
1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11833)
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3 Jul 08
Nightmare is too mild a word for it! FOUR YEARS after shaking hands on something, I'm still awaiting a date to make it legal 
The example you've used is exactly how it used to be, only add to this scenario the fact that your brother's wife also has to agree and the fact that if they've divorced it becomes even more complicated. And of course it's highly unlikely that your brother will be the only other owner. There's normally many more than that, and there's a good chance that at least one of them lives abroad.
Fortunately there is a system now in place where one owner must take responsibility and a sale can be forced if everyone is not in agreement. You also get fined now if you don't register your property after buying it (people avoided doing so to avoid paying taxes on it), but I think it will take a long long time for these changes to filter down.
The example you've used is exactly how it used to be, only add to this scenario the fact that your brother's wife also has to agree and the fact that if they've divorced it becomes even more complicated. And of course it's highly unlikely that your brother will be the only other owner. There's normally many more than that, and there's a good chance that at least one of them lives abroad.
Fortunately there is a system now in place where one owner must take responsibility and a sale can be forced if everyone is not in agreement. You also get fined now if you don't register your property after buying it (people avoided doing so to avoid paying taxes on it), but I think it will take a long long time for these changes to filter down.
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
2 Jul 08
not in my location...i live in a moderately populated area and schools are with in the vicinity..and not even once did i noticed of abandoned school house...well i guess your place or with in the area has only handful of residential house and all are grown ups or had migrated to another places..that may causes the closing up of the school..@p1kef1sh (45681)
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2 Jul 08
The reason that the school closed was because the Local Education Authority could not afford to keep it open. They closed several schools across the County that year. But they had no buyers for the property, so it is now neglected. The children that would have gone there are now bussed to another town!
@mummymo (23706)
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3 Jul 08
Pike my darling when I read this description this school sounds so full of life if only it were not deserted! I think it is so sad that such places are left to go to rack and ruin or demolished to build houses! In our are 3 high schools have had new buildings and the old buildings are all being knocked down to build houses. We do however have a very old high school building (that was the predecessor to one that has just been rebuilt) that has been turned into a very posh hotel and at least the building will be preserved and kept in good condition! Hugs xxx
@p1kef1sh (45681)
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3 Jul 08
The only reason that they closed this school Mummymo was a lack of money. So now it sits there unloved and waiting for the demolition ball. here is just so much potential in places like this. I quite like the idea of an hotel. The site is right, but the buildings wrong. I hope that they do something worthwhile with it. Housing just doesn't seem the right thing to me.
1 person likes this
@ellie333 (21016)
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1 Jul 08
Hi P1kef1sh, You describe it so well that I could visulise it as you were describing and such a beautiful building should be bought back to life again before like you say the decay sets in and the property developers snap it up and houses are put up in its place for no place for the occupants children to go to school. Sad, very sad. This is where communities (like communes but not the hippy type) can really make a difference. There are many setting up now and if say 100 people all put a small amount in it could be bought and kept in its original condition and the land used for growing home produce etc. and people living working and schooling there. I think in the future more co-operatives will set up like this before our rich greenland in swallowed up, every space between houses built on and the tress gone. I don't know of a building myself at this present moment though. I have some links for this type of system somewhere as answered a discussion about it recently if you are interested in the concept. Ellie :D
1 person likes this
@ellie333 (21016)
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1 Jul 08
They done this in the 60's with all the lovely big houses and gardens and knocked them done to build tower blocks and maisonettes around them, beautiful old buildings no more. The only thing left of some of the are the pillars which stand at the end of the road into a new estate. I hope someone can do something with the building rather than let this happen to it. Ellie :D
@startstop123 (435)
• India
2 Jul 08
Well, I have never heard or seen about this abandoned school. As one of the responses here say, The schools in my childhood are still as Schools and there is no change. May be in your country people change the schools into some other buildings and something else. Schools are meant to be a divine place where one starts his life.
@nannacroc (4049)
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5 Jul 08
Sadly the building worth keeping have been knocked down to make room for houses.
@suehan1 (4344)
• Australia
7 Aug 08
every day i drive past this deserted house which i think would be lovely done up,sort of a country cottage and probably herited listed.it has been on the market for at least 2-3 years,with a lot of land.i am surprised it has not been sold.the local children think its haunted.it is really a shame as all the land surrounding it now is being developed.i would like to have the money to bring the life back into this old house,so long as it wasn't haunted.cheers sue
@p1kef1sh (45681)
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7 Aug 08
I can remember buildings like that Sue. But since people discovered that they can commute to London from here; every spare piece of land is going for building and such houses get knocked down. As a child I used to play in such a place. The girls used to play "house" literally and I was usually their general factotum. Nothing's changed!
@ruby222 (4847)
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7 Aug 08
Those four stone walls that have tales to tell,the bell that tolls for no one now,except those who lay quietly sleeping under the velvet carpet,happy and content that they have done their level best.
Where prayer books were piled high,the dust has long settled,and the dormouse is brushing his tail that is laced with rich bees wax,each gentle sweep removes another speck.
The choir of woodlice are trilling .Its Harvest festival and the feet of the moles pound the organ keys,rendering a gusty chorus of "We plough the fields and scatter" before their little claws sink onto the tattered hassocks to Thank their maker.
Where fancy hats once arranged the villages best blooms,a daisy or two sits smiling,and in the stone bowl where many were named the blackbird is taking a shower.
Deserted and derelict,but not down and out.
(Soon to be auctioned and brought to life again!)
@Jenaisle (16568)
• Philippines
7 Aug 08
Unluckily, we have also old buildings which are in still in use by pupils/students. Your description of the old school is so vivid, I can almost "see" it; you're a writer! But what I said about the old buildings being still used for classes is true. The roof leaks, the posts are almost caving in but still pupils are using these buildings. It is because they want to study but they have no decent building to use. I know it's a sad state, but that is our reality in this corner of the world. Happy mylotting.
