Organised by The Marc Smith Educational CharityThe income from letting the Old School House funds clothing grants for local children going on to Senior Schools and grants to students from our area going on to Further Education. To continue this work, essential renovation work is key.
The Marc Smith Educational Charity built and ran Claybrooke School for over 70 years. After education became state run the Charity retained an 1840's cottage, next to the school, called "The Old School House".
The income from renting out the cottage has funded clothing grants for local children going on to Senior Schools and grants to students from our area going on to Further Education, Apprenticeships, etc. The Chairman of the Charity Trevor Dawes says:
“I've been on the committee for more than 20 years and we have had hundreds of grateful recipients of our funding, with many letters of thanks and stories of success.”
The house has stood empty since early December, when the former tenants left after 10 years at the house. Last winter was notorious for the heavy rain we had. On inspection we found that the roof was leaking and ground water had risen to overwhelm the damp proof course in the foundations. We discovered severe damp in many rooms, dry rot in the floor beams and black mould on many outer walls. The whole building needed drastic refurbishment to bring it up to modern lettable standards!
Using money from our reserves we got the roof fixed in December and work started in March to create a barrier around the foundations to stop water getting into the walls. Dehumidifiers have been running day and night to dry the interior of the house and the rotting timbers have been replaced and floors reinforced. Lutterworth Area Community Fund have kindly given us a grant of £22,500, which has helped us a lot. Walls and ceilings downstairs have been lined and re-plastered. Fireplaces have been restored, new electrics, lighting, radiators and plumbing where needed.
We now urgently need £25,000 so that we can refurbish the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. Electrics, plumbing, heating, insulation, plastering walls and ceilings, redecoration and floorcoverings are all needed!
The house will then be ready to let. We also have a local family with 3 school age children who would love to move in in September!
Grants to students have been suspended this year, as we don't have the funds to pay them. Please help us to restore the Old School House so that we can get back to what we do best, what we have done for more than 200 years, helping fund educational needs for our local children and students!
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