A VILLAGE school rocked by the theft of its lifeline minibus has secured a replacement – with a little help from The Journal.

Pupils and staff at St Mary’s Church of England Middle School at Belford were devastated when their only means of transport was taken last month. The bus was vital to the isolated school, which is 15 miles from the nearest town, and must travel long distances to take children to activities and staff to meetings.

But after The Journal’s coverage of the theft, two saviours emerged.

An anonymous donor, said to be a well-wisher of the 80-pupil school, came forward and offered a £700 donation towards the cost of a replacement.

At the same time, the Northumbria Community, a religious group based at Felton, which has links with the school, got in touch and offered to donate its rarely used minibus.

School headteacher Lynne Brookes wanted to give something to the community in return for the bus and it transpired that the £700 offered by the donor was the exact amount it had recently been quoted for some gardening works at its site.

The money was given to the community and the bus, an improvement on the one stolen, which was also used by village scouts, was given to the school. Mrs Brookes said: “We are enormously grateful to The Journal for publicising our dilemma and we are very grateful to the anonymous donor who came forward to offer us such a substantial amount and very grateful to the Northumbria Community for offering us their bus.

“What a difference this will make to the children’s lives.

“Already we have used the bus to take the boys to the area rugby tournament which was a big event we would have had to miss if we did not have a bus.”

Further trips to Lindisfarne, Durham and Yorkshire among other places are planned.

Pete Askew, leader of the Northumbria Community, said: “We had had a minibus for three years but we got to the stage where we decided it was not being used in a way we thought it might be.

“We heard about the school and we thought it is really nice to be able to be a blessing for somebody else. The donation from the school has been a nice blessing to us.

“It has been a really nice exchange. It has been fantastic.”

Mrs Brookes added: “We were really devastated when our bus was stolen but what has happened since as a result of the newspaper article has given me back my faith in human nature.

“It is good to know that there are the good people out there as well as villains. Everybody is chuffed to bits.”

The school had been raising funds for a second minibus to be shared with village organisations when the theft occurred.