Thatcham school receives £10,000 windfall

The luck of parent Susan Tanswell has brought Whitelands Park Primary School a £10,000 boost

WHITELANDS Park Primary School in Thatcham is now £10,000 better off thanks to the luck of one pupil parent.

Susan Tanswell, of Ashworth Drive, was trawling through various competitions for cash prizes hoping to find a way of winning some money to be able to afford a new kitchen, but whilst listening to the Absolute Radio station she stumbled upon a competition to win money for a school.

So she picked up the telephone and asked if she could enter on behalf of Whitelands Park Primary, which her two children Catrin, aged five and Ceri, aged 10, attend, and she managed to get through to the final round after her school's name was drawn from a hat.

Representatives from the final two schools, including hers, were kept on tenterhooks on the phone as the radio DJ kept them guessing who the winner was by announcing various facts about the chosen school.

Mrs Tanswell said: "As soon as he read the first clue out I knew we had won because the fact was about classes being named after trees.

"We were very excited, the children were jumping up and down.”

As the competition had been based purely on a luck of the draw basis Mrs Tanswell said it had been quite hard for the news that she had won to sink in; about 3,000 schools had entered the same competition.

She added that her children received a round of applause from their classmates when they went back into school.

The school, in Sagecroft Road, will spend the money on developing the library area into an IT learning suite.

On Wednesday, October 5, Absolute Radio presenter, Geoff Lloyd, presented the school with the cheque for £10,000 and headeacher Joan Blofeld, said that the learning suite would become a valuable resource for parents and pupils.

She said: "Many thanks to Absolute Radio, Microsoft and Mrs Tanswell, for giving the school this wonderful opportunity."

The school has now said that it will name the suite after Mrs Tanswell as a lasting reminder of where the money came from.

Mrs Tanswell said that she felt slightly embarrassed at the prospect of this and also about cutting the ribbon to officially open the new area but added: "The suite is going to be put to good use, I think it was something they did need."

She also said: "I'm still trying to get my new kitchen!"