I WAS brought up in Haxby in the 1940s and Fifties and, like my sisters, attended Haxby village school under the tutelage of head teacher Basil Hurdus and his assistants Miss Curry and Miss Rutter.

There we received an excellent education and all went forward to grammar schools in York and ultimately to very satisfying careers.

So I have very fond memories of Haxby School and the excellent way in which I was prepared for future years.

I also have fond memories of the buildings, our trips across the schoolyard to the loos and to the church hall in the back lane for lunch.

There were nature walks on hot days from school and many more happy memories of friendships forged and never forgotten.

So it was with much dismay that I recently heard of plans to tear down the old school and replace it with a glass monstrosity.

This cannot be allowed to happen.

The Old School was the focal point of village life in my days there and for many more such as me.

It should be looked after not destroyed because it played such an important role in the lives of those of us who are grateful to be former pupils.

Dr Ian McGrath,

The Watergardens,

Warren Road,

Kingston-upon-Thames,

Surrey.

...or pull it down?

IN response to the letters about the future of the Haxby Memorial Hall, I believe it is a typical municipal building of its time, with a cold and characterless interior, and an exterior of no particular architectural significance.

If Haxby is to be a forward-looking town it needs to have a bold and innovative design, such as the one proposed, as its centrepiece.

Those who have devoted so much time and effort in opposing it would do better to direct their energies to addressing the woefully long absence of a station in this town.

A bright new building, and a station, would really set this town on the map.

As far as I am concerned, the sooner the memorial hall is demolished the better it will be for Haxby and its residents.

J C Potter,

Eastfield Avenue,

Haxby,

York.

Updated: 11:27 Thursday, August 18, 2005