Pre-school left homeless after ‘devastating’ flood

Pre-school left homeless after ‘devastating’ flood

29 March 2017

A LOCAL pre-school has been devastated by a flood.

Saul Community Pre-School has been made homeless after an attic water tank overflowed, causing the ceiling to collapse.

Forty children were unable to attend their sessions for the rest of the week following the accident, which was discovered when parents arrived at the school with their pre-schoolers last Tuesday morning.

The pre-school reopened this week in temporary accommodation in the nearby Saul Centre pending repair work, which is estimated to cost thousands of pounds and may take up to 10 weeks.

Describing the incident as “heartbreaking”, pre-school leader Margaret Tighiouart said the damage was particularly galling because of huge fundraising efforts recently undertaken for much-needed equipment, which has now been destroyed.

“Money is always tight. We work day to day and from week to week because of funding difficulties,” she said.

“We are very fortunate to have great volunteers who work really hard to help increase our income for the benefit of the children and we were on the threshold of applying for grants to help us further develop our resources.

“We had been making great head-way so this is devastating and it impacts the children who come to both our sessions. It has disrupted their routine, which they cannot understand.

“We are very fortunate to be able to use the Saul Centre but the move is confusing for such young children, and also difficult to operate as we need to remove our resources from the hall at the end of each session so it is available for other community groups.

“It is heartbreaking, but carpets, chairs, furniture, even a new water-tray we recently purchased following a big fundraising drive, are all destroyed. That is not taking into account the hidden costs.”

Mrs Tighiouart said she had been overwhelmed by support offered since last week’s accident.

“Everybody has been so good and we would like to express our appreciation for that support,” she said.

“We appreciate every little bit of assistance we get and would appeal to the wider community for its assistance as we try to get back on our feet.”