Around 900 people attended Roose School at Barrow in 1996 to try to find out how much their antiques were worth.

An Antiques Discovery Day at the school in North Row was so successful that organisers wished they had booked two valuers instead of one.

Christopher Coram, of fine art auctioneers and valuers Capes Dunn & Co of Manchester, was able to raise almost £900 for school funds from valuations at £1 a time.

The event was co-ordinated by Barbara Ormandy and Pam Redfern, on behalf of the Friends of Roose School, and the cash raised would go towards refurbishing parts of the buildings, particularly the kitchen classrooms.

As well as the valuations, there was a range of displays, including small furniture, china, clocks, bonsai trees, decoupage and luxury sewing packed into the school hall.

School catering staff were kept busy providing lunches at £1.50 a time.

Children were also able to take part in workshops teaching them the arts of doughcraft, jewellery making, wood-turning and face painting.

Also in 1996 Roose School youngsters proved to be on top form for home safety by winning a contest at Barrow’s Abbey House Hotel.

There were 22 schools entered in the first round and those taking part had to tackle questions on safety hazards in the home.

Roose then represented Barrow in the North West Finals at Widnes and just lost out to Stockport by five points.

A spokesperson for the regional contest said: “There are no losers. Every piece of knowledge gained could be a life saved.”

In 1998 pupils at Roose School received a total of £354.94 from the Kirkby Moor Wind Farm Community Fund.

The money would be used to purchase an automatic rainfall sensor for the school’s Weather Watch Group, which had built up a range of sensors monitoring wind, temperature and pressures.