Leeds United Foundation's champion gesture of support for fire-hit school

The gym and changing rooms at Sherburn High School, in Sherburn-in-Elmet, near Leeds, bore the brunt of the damage in the blaze earlier this month.

Sports equipment used during PE lessons was lost and, after being told about the school’s plight, the Leeds United Foundation decided to help.

Staff from the foundation have now paid a visit to Sherburn High to hand over a batch of United shirts as well as footballs and other equipment.

The items donated by Leeds will be used by students for games lessons at the school, which reopened less than a week after the blaze.

Leeds United Foundation development manager Gary Waddington said: “It was devastating to hear about the fire at a local school and once we’d heard from one of the teachers of course we wanted to be able to do something to help.

“We were welcomed with open arms and met some of their fantastic students.

“Hopefully they will receive more donations from the local community to make sure the pupils aren’t missing out on their PE lessons.”

The school’s headteacher, Maria Williams, told United’s in-house LUTV television station: “A big thank you to everyone associated with Leeds United for the generous donation, we have a lot of supporters at the school and I know how much this will mean to them and they will wear the shirts with pride.

“It has been a massive shock to everyone and we are still waiting to see the full extent of the damage but in the meantime the support from people and the donations have been fantastic and as a school we really do appreciate it.”

Crews from six fire stations tackled the blaze at the school, which happened overnight on July 2.

North Yorkshire Police yesterday said a 16-year-old girl arrested in connection with the fire was not facing any further action. Enquiries into the incident are continuing.