Following the devastating fire that destroyed Cruden Bay’s Port Erroll Primary School, Lodge St. Olaf generously offered its Lodge Rooms as temporary classrooms during the school’s closure. The local authority accepted this kind offer, and the photograph above shows local children making use of their temporary accommodations.
R.W.M. Bro. Jim Connor, along with his office bearers and fellow brethren, granted permission for the local authority to make necessary modifications to the anteroom and temple in order to meet health and safety standards for educational use. Many of the improvements made during this time proved beneficial to the lodge in the long term, as the building was returned to the lodge in advance of the new Masonic season commencing in October 2000.
Saturday, 8 April, 2000, 17:31 GMT 18:31 UK
Six youths have been arrested in connection with a fire which gutted a primary school.
Port Erroll primary at Cruden Bay, in Aberdeenshire, was destroyed by fire on Thursday night and Aberdeenshire Council said it would have to be demolished.
Grampian Police, on Saturday said all a six of them were due to appear on Monday at Peterhead Sheriff Court. They are understood to be aged between 15 and 17 years.
Police set up an incident room to investigate the blaze and appealed to the public for information.
Provisional estimates of the cost of rebuilding the school have been put at up to £2m.
Inquiry call
This part of the split-site school was built in 1977 and housed 100 primary pupils in five classes.
An annexe building for another 105 younger pupils which is part of the school but on a different site was not involved.
Alternative temporary arrangements are being made to accommodate the older pupils when they return from the Easter holidays.
This includes accommodating classes withing the local Masonic Lodge buildings in Serald Lane, made available by the local Lodge St. Olaf, and sending some classes to a school at Ellon which was closed two years ago.
Meanwhile, local MP Alex Salmond is calling for an inquiry into reports that a water hydrant at the school was defective and hampered firemen.