MICHAEL Morpurgo, the world renowned children's author, recently took time out of his busy schedule officially to open a new teaching block at Shebbear College.

The former children's laureate (pictured far left), who was also guest speaker at the college's speech day, performed the ceremony, which marked the culmination of 14 months of construction work at the college site.

This new addition to the campus, consisting of three new classrooms, a lecture theatre and staff facilities was completed in time for the start of the new autumn term.

The build was a landmark for the college staff, as they led the project themselves, using their own well qualified maintenance team, as well as numerous sub-contractors.

They completed the build on time and on budget.