Determination to save a Fife school shone through the rain as protesters braved the weather to show their support for Tanshall Primary School.
Parents, grandparents, children and neighbours marched during a heavy downpour from the closure-threatened school to Fife Council headquarters.
Despite Saturday’s dreadful weather more than 60 people, from a baby to pensioners, turned out for the show of dissent against the local authority’s proposal to shut the Glenrothes school which is one of seven across the region facing the axe.
The march to Fife House, the fourth demonstration held for Tanshall, was led by piper and former pupil Reggin Smith (12) and walkers carrying banners.
Organiser Euan Howells, chairman of voluntary group Community Help@Tanshall, had expected a crowd of up to 200 but he said: “The fact that people have turned up at all in this weather shows that they are willing to stand up and fight.
“At CH@T we have been trying to build the community up and get it back to the way it was when people knew their neighbours and weren’t scared to go out.
“You take the school away from any community and you rip the heart out of that community.”
Mr Howells said: “If this goes ahead, in 10, 20 years’ time there will be no Tanshall because there will be no school to identify the area. It will just become the bit north of Caskieberran or beside Rimbleton.”
Glenrothes councillor and Fife SNP leader Peter Grant joined the protesters.
He said: “When you see the number of parents and children that have come out in this weather, it’s a fair visualisation that this school is much more than just a building.
“People see it as a huge part of the community.”
Wife Fiona, also a councillor for the new town and a former Tanshall pupil, echoed parents’ concerns that closing the school will see children having to cross busy main roads to get the nearest schools at Southwood or Caskieberran.
She said: “One of the founding principles of Glenrothes and its precincts was that no child should cross the road to go to school and that’s being blown out of the water.
“It’s vitally important that the community registers its opposition as strongly as possible to the idea of closing Tanshall Primary School.”
Parent Dawn Bachelor, who has a child in P6 and one in nursery, said: “There are no roads to cross to get to Tanshall and that means they can build up friendships which they can continue after school.
“If you take away the school it will take the heart out of the community. Even if I didn’t have children here I would still want the school to stay.”
Fellow parent Nikki Goddard has sons in P3 and P7 and said it had taken her youngest some time to settle.
She said: “He feels secure here now. If they close Tanshall he will have to go through it all again.”
Tanshall resident Ian Mowat’s three daughters and grandson are former pupils of Tanshall.
He said: “A lot of people move into this area with their families to go to this school as children can walk here safely without having to cross the road.”
The Cullen Drive school has 176 pupils which is 56 per cent of its capacity of 317.
Consultation on its closure ends on Saturday and if approved the school will shut next summer.