An estimated third of Carsphairn’s residents turned up at meeting to demand their local school reopens.
More than 40 packed into the local Lagwyne Hall for the council-run event of a village population of around 115.
The forum was the opening salvo of a statutory consultation on proposals to permanently close the school and associated nursery.
Both were mothballed in 2019 then talks over the school’s future were stalled by the pandemic.
Mum-of-two Emily Wall said afterwards: “I think the council staff were surprised by the turnout.
“That was an indication of the strength of feeling locally over this.
“At the beginning everyone was hostile towards them because they were going to shut the school.
“But they listened to people’s views and by the end understood a lot more about the people and community of Carsphairn.
“People felt that if you take the school away you are not going to attract in young families.”
Mrs Wall, who moved up with her family from Lancashire in April, added: “The council people were pleasantly surprised at how much people wanted to get behind the school – we will not back down.
“They were engaged throughout and were typing out what everybody said.
“We asked what magic number it would take to reopen the school – but they would not give an answer.”
Mrs Wall told the News she and husband Tom moved to the village determined to help save the school.
She said: “We moved up here in April and love the area – everyone has been so welcoming. We have two daughters, one just turned two and the other who will be eight this month.
“If the nursery was open my youngest would go next year. And if they reopened the school my oldest would be there.”
She added: “If there’s a local school and houses come on the market families will want to move here. There’s a trend of people wanting to move out of big cities and towns.”
A council spokesperson said: “The statutory consultation period is currently open for the proposed closure of Carsphairn Primary School and remains open until November 4.
“Members of the local community have the opportunity to feed in their views in a number of ways during this consultation phase.
“The primary school has not had children attending for over three years.
“As such, this has enabled the mothballing status of the school to be taken forward for consideration for potential closure.”
