COMMUNITY spirit is soaring in East Cornwall as a village school continues its ambitious fundraising mission to become more sustainable — and thanks to local people, it is now 'well on its way'.

Calstock Community Primary School joined the Solar Schools initiative — to purchase and install solar panels on the school's roof — in October and has since held a number of fundraising events and activities to collect funds towards the £17,000 target.

One such event took place on Sunday with the Calstock Spring Classic — a sponsored bike ride of laps around the village for children aged five to 12.

The week before, a 'Dr Bike' event was held, where Andy from Devon Cycle Repairs gave up a day to fix up the children's bikes in preparation for the Calstock Spring Classic.

Helen Randle, a parent with children at the school, has been heavily involved with the scheme and was the one who suggested the school should apply to the initiative.

She said: 'I saw the Solar Schools initiative advertised by my electricity supplier and suggested the school apply. I filled in the forms and amazingly we were chosen. Now it is taking our community on this very interesting journey.

'The school is well on its way to reaching its £17,000 target, having raised nearly £3,000 since it launched.

'The amount will be sufficient to install at least 10kW of solar photovoltaic panels on the school's south facing roof. The aim is to raise the total by the school summer holiday so that the panels can be in place when the children return in September.'

The feed-in tariff for the solar panels is set to contribute around £2,000 a year for the next 20 years, on top of the savings made to the school's electricity bills — which can be used to invest in additional resources, improve the school's working environment and subsidise study trips for this generation of pupils and the next.

So far, fundraising events held have included a spring fair and children's recital at the school, several coffee mornings, a gig at the Chapel Arts Centre, the sponsored bike challenge and set to take place on Sunday (April 19) is a table top sale at Calstock Village Hall from 10am.

Helen added: 'I have been amazed at people's generosity and good ideas. From the schoolchildren entering competitions, to scrap metal collection around the village, selling unwanted items on auction sites to generous support from the parish council, councillors and individuals — it's really heart warming.'

The next big fundraising event to take place is the mammoth 'Land's End to Calstock Pedal/Paddle' — organised by a parent who will be joined by a number of friends to journey 130 miles by coast and 100 miles by road from Land's End to Calstock on May 23 to 24.

Organiser of the event Pete Gadd said: 'A group of friends and I usually set ourselves a challenge for the summer, but this is probably the biggest one yet. Using it to raise money for the school's solar project means we are not the only ones who will benefit from completing the task.

'It will be tough, but we are ready for the challenge!

'We'd really appreciate more sponsorship — perhaps there are businesses out there who could support us?'

Pete said he would be looking forward to the warm welcome from the Calstock community when they arrive home from the challenge.

The school has several more events on the cards, such as a sponsored walk, a knit-in and a camp-out on the school field.

Helen said they would be keen to hear from anyone who would like to help — either by donations, giving up time to help at events or even suggest some 'crazy' fundraising ideas.

Anyone who would like to support the school can contact Helen on 01822 833970, find out more on Facebook (search Calstock CP Solar School), donate via the website http://www.solarschools.org.uk/Calstock">www.solarschools.org.uk/Calstock, email [email protected]">[email protected] or write to Calstock CP School, Back Road, Calstock, PL18 9QL.