Member Article

Village school receives makeover courtesy of generous North East businesses

A village school in South East Northumberland has been rejuvenated thanks to the generosity of two major businesses.

North Sea Link and AkzoNobel joined forces to paint Cambois Primary School, much to the delight of staff and pupils.

Staff from North Sea Link volunteered their time and purchased all of the materials while AkzoNobel provided the expert support necessary to complete the work.

North Sea Link Interconnector is a joint project between Statnett and National Grid who are working together to construct an electricity link between Norway and the UK. North Sea Link will connect the electricity systems of the two countries via high voltage subsea cables from Kvilldal in Norway to Blyth, with onshore infrastructure located at neighbouring Cambois.

Passing through Norwegian and British waters, North Sea Link will be operational in 2021 and will be the longest subsea interconnector in the world.

AkzoNobel is the world’s biggest manufacturer of decorative paints and coatings with brands including Dulux and Dulux Trade. Having recently invested over £100 million in the region to build a new, state-of-the-art facility in Ashington, AkzoNobel is dedicated to helping make a difference in the community by bringing colour into people’s lives.

Last year, Cambois Primary School hosted a community drop-in session organised by the North Sea Link project team. The team were so taken by the enthusiasm and community spirit in the school that they vowed to return to volunteer time to improve the surroundings for pupils and staff.

North Sea Link’s Sally-Anne Barson said:

“Cambois Primary School is a wonderful village school which goes above and beyond to provide quality education and extra-curricular activities to its pupils which helps to enhance village life for them immensely.

“We wanted the classrooms and corridors to reflect the school’s amazing community spirit by giving the walls a major facelift.

“After liaising with the school’s head teacher, we agreed to source some colourful paint and provide some volunteers to help rejuvenate the school.”

Jill Johnston, site support coordinator at AkzoNobel Ashington, said:

“After hearing about the work that North Sea Link’s project team were doing in conjunction with Cambois Primary School, we offered to help support them in whatever way we could with advice, materials and decorating expertise.

“The fresh paintwork looks fantastic and we look forward to visiting the school again once the work is all completed.”

Having made great progress painting the school’s two main corridors during their recent visit, volunteers from both North Sea Link and AkzoNobel are now in talks with Cambois Primary School to organise returning to the site to finish what they have started and start painting other areas of the school, such as the dining and sports halls.

Marianne Allan, head teacher at Cambois Primary School, said:

“On behalf of the staff and pupils at Cambois Primary School, I would like to thank all of the volunteers from North Sea Link for their hard work decorating the school and the staff at AkzoNobel for providing the materials, we are truly grateful.”

To find out more about the North Sea Link Interconnector project, visit www.northsealink.com or for more information about AkzoNobel, visit www.akzonobel.com.

ENDS

Photo caption (L to R): Head teacher, Marianne Allan with Sally-Anne Barson from North Sea Link and Jill Johnston from AkzoNobel with the team of North Sea Link painting volunteers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Fusion PR .