A 'pledge fund' has been opened in a bid to purchase Narberth's former primary school for community use.

The idea was put forward by Henry Langen, at a recent meeting of Narberth Future Forum, who are spearheading a campaign to acquire the Moorfield Road building.

Mr. Langen proposed that a consortium, made up of the Future Forum, Narberth Town Council, the Chamber of Trade and Pembrokeshire County Council, be set-up to purchase the site, remembering, that both the Town Council and Chamber of Trade had registered an interest in acquiring the site from the County Council.

He said that now was the time to start raising funds and proposed that a 'pledge fund' be set-up.

This was agreed to by the meeting and resulted in just over £2,500 being pledged by the end of the meeting.

Said Forum secretary, Gordon Barry, after the meeting: "To start the fund off, over £2,500 was pledged from those present following the idea presented by Henry Langen. This was immediately after the meeting and no pressure was placed on anybody to pledge anything.

"This does show how the people of Narberth really do care about what happens to the school. This fund is just the start to build up a financial foundation to meet the possibility of the school's eventual purchase."

At last Thursday's meeting, the Forum also received extremely useful feedback from AM Angela Burns regarding the various meetings and communication she has had with the County Council and Welsh Assembly Government.

These have been positively influenced by the very strong response to the Forum questionnaire which saw 60 per cent of the local residents who filled it in voting for the building to be used for community use.

The AM will report the feelings and mood of the Forum to the County Council at her next meeting with the authority, which is imminent.

Forum members were informed that the Town Council also has a meeting in October with the County Council.

An update on the future of the former school will be given at the Forum's next meeting on Thursday, October 23, at Bloomfield Centre, at 7.30 pm.

The agenda will include, not only the school, but the other forum topics, including, recycling group, energy group, environment group, festival and events group, links to Castle and Heritage trails thus allowing consideration of other future aspects of the development and enhancement of Narberth.

PLAYGROUND

PARKING

Meanwhile, the go-ahead has been given for Narberth's old school playground to be used as a car parking facility, it was announced this week.

"The Narberth Chamber of Trade is very pleased to announce that following consultation and negotiations with the county council, the good officers of the chamber have been granted a licence to use the old CP School playground as a temporary car park," said Gordon Barry, secretary to Narberth Chamber of Trade.

Parking at the site will be limited to the hours of 8 am to 6.30 pm, while the period of the licence granted is for one year (renewable).

"It is hoped and anticipated that chamber members will assist with the organisation and management of this much-needed additional facility for the town," added Mr. Barry.