What you don't see happening at Newark's Lilley & Stone School walking down London Road - theft, destruction and risk
Every evening there are trespassers.
The boards over the windows and doors are replaced every evening yet in the morning they have been torn down again to gain entry.
It is the place the caretaker fears to enter at night.
There’s nothing left to steal.
Thieves have sawn through the mains electricity supply for the copper.
They have also sawn through a gas pipe, causing a major leak.
Inside the building, everything has been trashed.
Yet everywhere there are reminders of a once proud heritage.
This is the story of what Newark’s Lilley & Stone School has become and it has more holes than a colander.
Long-awaited plans are in the pipeline to redevelop the school on London Road, that would preserve the two listed buildings, but controversially require housing to be built on the former school’s land to be viable.
Those plans have met with strong opposition.
Yesterday, the Advertiser was invited to tour the site.
Caretaker Joe Crampton said: “Eventually someone is going to get hurt.
“They’ve sawn through the main electricity feed into the sports hall and sawn through a live gas pipe, causing a major leak.
“It’s madness.
“I was hear at 7.20pm last night boarding up again and I’ll probably have to be back tonight.
“I don’t go into the buildings at night because they’re pitch black and I don’t know what, or who, is waiting for me inside.
“I’m a 57-year-old bloke but even a 14-year-old can can do me damage with a lump of wood.
“They’re tried to set fires. There’s exposed asbestos everywhere. It only takes one fire to take hold and there’s an asbestos cloud over Newark.
“These kids are breathing in asbestos regularly by being here and won’t know the harm it’s doing to them until they’re in their forties.
“The trustees are doing everything they can, but there’s little money and it’s a losing battle. Something has to happen soon.
“I understand the wish to preserve what once was, but it’s largely gone and the situation only gets worse.
“What if it’s saved as it is? We have another Robin Hood Hotel and we’re stuck looking at an eyesore for 20 years, or worse, it’s burned to the ground like the Grove Leisure Centre.”
