Bishop blesses building after weather delays school’s start

The new Roman Catholic school, called Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in York, will accommodate 420 primary school children and 52 nursery children and replace Our Lady’s in Acomb and English Martyrs in Hamilton Drive, two schools built more than 50 years ago and now considered unsuitable for modern-day needs.

Construction on the school had been scheduled to start in December last year, but the Bishop of Middlesbrough, Terence Patrick Drainey was unable to launch the work because of the bad weather.

Yesterday, he laid and blessed the foundation stone at the school to give the go ahead to the project.

“The children, parents and staff who have waited, worked, and hoped for a new school for many years are delighted”, he said.

“At long last we are in sight of the fulfilment of our hopes.

“This is an exciting opportunity for two very highly respected schools in the local community to come together into one brand new state of the art school which is great news for catholic education in York.”

Some fixtures from the present schools will be incorporated in the new build, which is planned to be finished by January 2012