Local social housing provider LiveWest has donated hundreds towards restocking Lamerton CofE Primary School library, following a devastating fire on the premises.

Lamerton C of E Primary School headteacher Melody Sterry put out an appeal for help to replace the library books after a fire at the school, located near Tavistock, caused extensive smoke damage to the school site and destroyed all of the school’s library.

With 29 homes in the school catchment area, parents reached out to LiveWest decided to offer its help and donated £300 of National Book Tokens to help the school restock its non-fiction books.

Ms Sterry said: “We love reading at our school and we were devastated that a fire destroyed all of our library. This money will really help us to get back on track and get children reading. We can’t thank LiveWest enough.”

Following the fire, the school temporarily moved to the village community centre where pupils have been having lessons while repairs are being made to the building.

Alison Knight, Community Connector for LiveWest, said: “We were really sad to hear what had happened at Lamerton school. LiveWest has homes in the area so after we heard parents asking if anyone could support with this, we knew we wanted to help if we could.

“It was fantastic to present the school with a donation of book vouchers. Books are so important for primary schools to have as a resource. We thought it was a great idea to help the school buy new non-fiction books to inspire children to continue to read and make sure they get the opportunity to loan free books from their school that are suitable for all.

“It’s always a pleasure to come into schools to promote reading and meet the pupils and our residents living in our nearby communities.”

A random cabling fault was believed to have caused the fire in the night of February 7.

Within 24 hours of the emergency, staff had set up a temporary school at the village hall, so the children only lost one day of learning. However, although the fire was small, and the alarm was raised quickly, smoke damage was extensive.