4:53pm Monday 15th March 2010
By Edmund Tobin
A SPECIAL school's dream of having its own hydrotherapy pool is getting ever nearer with fund-raising now over the halfway mark.
Oak View School, in Whitehills Road, Loughton, has received growing support from the community and beyond in its quest to raise £220,000 for the pool, which will help its pupils with learning and physical difficulties.
Its latest event, a cockney night held at the Working Men's Club, in Old Station Road, Loughton, raised over £11,000 through a raffle and sponsored sing-a-long to I'm For Ever Blowing Bubbles.
Organiser and Pearly Queen of Clapton Teresa Watts said: “It was absolutely fantastic. It was really about getting the school known to everyone and it worked. Now I've got people contacting me to ask how they can help.”
Essex County Council has already pledged a grant of £75,000 for the school, and money has also been offered from the Kier Group, the London Taverners and this year's Loughton Festival which has chosen Oak View as one of its official charities.
With an extra £20,000 already raised through the Friends of Oakview School, over £110,000 has now been pledged.
Deputy headteacher Dianne Ryan said: “It's all adding up. It's still a long way to go, but we have got a summer fete planned, a gala event and we'll keep putting out letters calling for more.
“It's encouraging. People in school have been really supportive and so have the local community. There's a lot of interest out there.”
Currently pupils at the school have to travel to St Margaret's Hospital, in Epping, for hydrotherapy sessions, which causes them great difficulty to arrange.
It has said, if successful in its project, the new pool will be open to the local community.
Mrs Ryan said: “The children here need to have therapy in water for their physical needs. It's very, very important and it also gives them opportunities to socialise and learn other skills like self-help.
“The other benefit is the pool will be a community resource for people. It would be open to local people and it will help build links with the community.”
A formal planing application for permission to build an extension for the new pool has now been lodged with Epping Forest District Council.
Oak View's next fund-raising event is a quiz at the school this Friday, March 19, at 7pm. Tickets priced £10 must be booked in advance by calling 020 8508 4293.
· Further good news reached Oak View School this week with the news its sensory garden had received a £6,240 donation from the St James's Place Partnership.
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