Cabrach
THE residents of Cabrach in Moray won a hard-fought victory earlier this year to retain the tiny village school with a roll of just two pupils.

Cabrach is the upland Moray plateau between Dufftown, Rhynie and Lumsden, and a century-and-a-half ago almost 800 people lived within its 40,000 acres but by 1951 that had fallen to 215.

In recent years the decline has continued and now there are just 50 people living there. Moray Council wanted to close the school and send the pupils to Mortlach Primary six miles away.

However, after five years the Scottish Government ordered it must be kept open at a cost of £50,000 a year for each of the two pupils - 18 times the cost of educating other pupils in Moray.

Helena Sierakowska, whose children Aaron, seven, and Lily, five, attend the school, said its closure would have been "an absolutely devastating blow to a very isolated rural community".

"We have formed Cabrach Community Association with the aim of regenerating Cabrach and attracting more young families, and the school is vital," she added.