A councillor has demanded answers over what happened to old photos of his friends after they were left to decay in a school gutted by fire. The school in Bramcote dated back to the 1940s and was once used as a hospital in the Second World War.
Independent councillor Richard MacRae, who represents Stapleford North and attended the school as a boy, told Nottinghamshire Live he spotted numerous items of note in a video filmed by urban explorers and uploaded to YouTube. Some of these items included old school photos, some of which likely of his friends who had passed, and food that he had donated as part of his charitable work.
He says he wants answers as to whether these historically important items will be given back to the community. However his requests so far had fallen on "deaf ears".
Read more: Police and crime commissioner caught speeding five times
The first school built on the Bramcote Hills site, the Bramcote Hills Secondary Modern, opened in the 1940s. In 2007 it was placed under the umbrella academy trust White Hills Park.
From September 2017 the 476-pupil school was shifted to the Bramcote College building at the Derby Road campus where it was intended to stay for two years until the run-down school was demolished and a brand new school building was built by 2019. And in 2021 the building was gutted by a serious fire which 60 firefighters battled to get under control.
A project is now underway to build a new secondary school. Councillor MacRae said: "To me it will always be known as Bramcote Park Comprehensive School, where I attended from 1983 until 1988. Others who attended at other times will maybe know it by different names.
"It is sad to see the poor state it has been left in, sad it burned down and so sad to see several videos on social media of the amount of items left inside. It’s like someone left, locked the door and the place was forgotten about. So many items could have been salvaged, donated to and used by others.
"I support an organisation which could have sent the items to schools in Africa. I also know many others as well who could have benefited from the items. Not sure if I am sad or more angry that having seen old photos dating back to the 1950 just left in the place.
"I have asked on several occasions if the photos can be retrieved as they are part of our local history. I wanted to put a display on with the photos as many people would love to see them. I have once again emailed the Head asking if that have been saved, if not why not, especially when I made them aware they were in the building having seen pictures and videos online."
Nottinghamshire Live approached the trust for comment. Paul Heery, the chief executive at White Hills Park Trust, said: "Demolition is currently under way at the site of the former Bramcote Park School, following the fire in the autumn.
"We have been working with our insurers to bring this to a conclusion as swiftly as possible, but given the approvals that have to be secured, the extensive preparatory work that has to be in place, the appointment of contractors and the risks in working on a potentially dangerous site, it has not been possible to do this more quickly.
"We are retrieving photos wherever possible, and have asked the contractor to pass them on to us. When this process is finished, we will look at the best way to store or share these. For obvious safety reasons, we do not have free access on to the site, so have to work with the contractors."
