THE educational legacy of an independent school in Poole forced to close six years ago has been preserved through a new Dorset Community Foundation fund.
Money donated by the Buckholme Towers Trust will help young people from struggling families follow their career dreams through vocational college courses.
Buckholme Towers School was opened by Dorothy Murray in her living room in Poole with just five pupils on the first day of World War Two in 1939, later moving to a permanent home in Commercial Road. In 2013 the school was badly damaged by a fire caused by an electrical fault and although it was rebuilt and re-opened, it went into administration in 2019 and closed.
The school building remains under the ownership of a charitable trust, and is now rented to The Old School House Nursery and Pre-School. The Buckholme Towers trustees wanted to find a way of using the rental income from The Old School Nursery and Pre-School to continue to help young people with their education.
Treasurer Beth Barker, herself a former pupil from 1989 to 1996, approached the community foundation, which uses donors’ money to run the Dorset Bursary Scheme. Over the last ten years the scheme has funded hundreds of disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 towards the cost of their college courses.
“A lot of our charitable objects align very closely with the community foundation’s,” said Ms Barker. “We know their bursaries help young people who want to go into further education but can’t afford it and that completely aligns with what we want to do.
“Community foundations are a great concept and they make it that much easier and smoother to give money. It gives us peace of mind that we can rely on them to use the money well.”
Community foundations are a great concept and they make it that much easier and smoother to give money. It gives us peace of mind that we can rely on them to use the money well
She said the trustees are delighted the school’s name will endure through the fund. “It was really sad when the school closed down so it’s nice that we can do something positive,” she said.
“Buckholme Towers has been part of the landscape of the area for nearly 100 years and its motto was ‘education through happiness, happiness through education’. It’s lovely that those values it stood for will endure as well because education is so important.”
One link with the school’s beginnings is trustee Ruth Goulden, daughter of founder Mrs Murray and one of the five pupils who attended that first day in September 1939.
Community foundation Chief Executive Grant Robson said: “I’m so pleased that we are playing a part in preserving an important slice of Poole’s history through this partnership.
“Over almost a century Buckholme Towers will have touched many lives and shaped thousands of futures and now it will continue to do so by supporting our Dorset Bursary Scheme.”
Find out more about DCF Bursaries here.
Pictured: Buckholme Towers Trust Treasurer Beth Barker and Chair of Trustees John Gunton, right, with Dorset Community Foundation Philanthropy Manager Gareth Owens at the former Buckholme Towers School in Commercial Road, Poole
