Remembering the summer fire at Thornhill School, and how it bounced back
Thornhill School staff and pupils had a Summer they would never forget in 1970.
It was the summer when part of the £1million school was left in smouldering ruins after a fire.
Flames ripped through the top floor of a science, art and commerce block at Thornhill School in early June that year.
Hundreds of pupils sent home
All pupils except those taking final year exams were sent home as staff tried to come to terms with the damage.
Yet somehow, two thirds of the block were back in use by the time pupils returned after the six weeks holidays.
An Echo report at the time said: “Science preparation rooms, chemical laboratories and classrooms were blazing when the fire brigade arrived at 6.30am.
“The whole roof was alight and eventually collapsed.”
The hero who ran into the flames
School caretaker Tom Crozier was first on the scene after a nearby resident spotted the flames.
He ran into the school to turn off the main gas supplies and boilers.
The fire brigade had 60 firefighters at the scene and a spokesman said: “The entire top floor was involved, and the fire spread to the lower floors in the science block.”
The school had been built just four years earlier yet somehow, by August that year, an incredible turnaround had been witnessed.
Tireless workers toiled all Summer
Another Echo report said: “Pupils returning to the school will find that they are once again able to use the greater part of the science block which was severely damaged by fire a few weeks ago.
“Work has been going on at full speed to get the block ready in time for the new term, and it is hoped that a least two thirds of it will back in use.”
Tell us if you remember the fire and whether you were one of the pupils affected that Summer.
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