Villagers save former school building in north Northumberland for their community

Cornhill First School in Cornhill-on-Tweed, one mile east of Coldstream, closed in July 2012 because of a lack of children in the village to fill its classrooms.

As pupils were transferred to other local schools the building, which was only a decade old, was left vacant.

In 2018, a housing developer came forward with plans to demolish the building and create a new housing estate on both the plot and the surrounding land.

But villagers opposed the move over the loss of green space and the proposed development floundered.

It was around this period that Northumberland County Council offered the site to Cornhill Parish Council as an community asset transfer.

Cornhill Community Action was then established as a charity to convert the ex-school into a resource for the village.

After fundraising of £70,000 was achieved, which included a grant from the National Lottery, the building has now been converted into six commercial units, five of which are already occupied by small businesses – a pilates studio, a pilates and sports massage studio, a jewellery and teaching studio, a craft shop selling locally made items, Berwick and Borders Therapies and a company organising game and fishing tours based on the Royal Scotsman Pullman train.

The hope is that the remaining unit – a kitchen – will soon become a café.

An official opening of the centre is to be staged on Sunday, July 23, which will run alongside the village summer fair in the grounds.

The school’s former headteacher Julie Grainger and Rev Rob Kelsey have been invited to perform the ribbon-cutting.

Cornhill Community Action trustee Maggie Read, who runs the teaching and jewellery studio, said: “We’re all in now and it’s up and running.

“The land beside the building has been registered as a village green and there’s going to be a meditation garden, a children’s play area and picnic area. There’s lot of work to go ahead over the next year.

“It’s such a fantastic thing to have happened for the community. It’s a really close-knit community in Cornhill and it’s nice that we have been able to save the building.

“What we have now is a real community resource.”