Local residents packed a meeting at The Priory last week to hear Councillors John Wing and Malcolm Alexander discuss the future of the former Musley School building.

The objective was to form an official group, the Friends of Musley School, that would seek to create a sustainable future for the building at the heart of the community.

Following a short introduction from the two Councillors, there was an enlightening, brief history of by renowned local historian David Perman. He covered the beginning of the school in 1857 as a Grammar School, to its ultimate closure 2003, the proposed use and development by the Emmanuel Shared Church, and the subsequent collapse of their plans. He observed that in 1890, the year of Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee, the then Grammar School had been revised and extended, and it seemed appropriate that the building should be revived in this Diamond Jubilee year.

The meeting was then opening to the floor, with the organisers looking for expressions of interest from groups or individuals who would want to use the new community building.

Some attendees felt that the 'Council' should resolve issues around the condition and obscure ownership of the building before moving forward. The Councillors jointly stressed that for the building to have any future, other than development, it was critical that realistic future users, who would provide the income necessary to sustain the building in the longer term were identified, along with a suitable body created to take control of the building and it future.

This resulted in several expressions of interest from groups as diverse as the Scouts, U3A and a Pre-School.

After some further discussions, there was condemnation of the current situation, along with criticism of: the role of the various councils, obscurity of the Trustee's identifies and concerns over their motives.

The Councillors responded that while they could not speak for the Trustees, who are bound by the aims of their trust, both Hertfordshire and East Herts Councils have been, and continue to be, supportive of the development of a community facility at the former Musley School site.

The meeting closed with agreement to create a group, The Friends of Musley School, and to call for volunteers to join Councillors John Wing and Malcolm Alexander to form the core committee, and where possible actively engage with process of creating a package to secure the future of this much loved building.