PREPARATION for demolition work has begun on the old George Ward School site in Melksham, five years after it closed in 2010.
Lawson Demolition have commenced the internal clearance and asbestos removal within the buildings before the mechanical demolition of the school can begin. The school, built in the early 1950s, is to make way for the construction of new homes on the site.
Councillor Chris Petty, who attended the school in the early 1960s, said: “It is a very melancholic moment to hear that it is going to be demolished.
“I knew beforehand but still it is such a Melksham icon. It had been open for around 55 years so there is a whole raft of people who have attended the school.
“Anyone over 14 would have gone to that school but in the end improvement is what matters and moving on.
“It used to be called Shurnhold when I was there but it changed to George Ward in about 1968.”
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