VILLAGERS fear their weekly work-out could be at an end after education bosses announced the closure of an historic school.

The search is now on for members of Edgworth Women's Institute Swimming Club to find an alternative home for their water activities, which normally take place at Crowthorn School, in Broadhead Road, Edgworth.

No plans have yet been made regarding the future of the building by officials at the school, who told the Department for Education and Employment last month they would be shutting their doors by the end of July next year.

Some of the establishment's 100 employees have already been issued with redundancy notices and most of its 32 pupils, aged between 10 and 16, are being found alternative placements by the local education authority.

The swimmers, who have being using the school's pool every Monday night for about 15 years, are now facing an uncertain future with the only likely possibility of relocation being at Turton High School, about two-and-a-half miles away.

Judith Scanlon, group secretary, said: "Unfortunately the news means the swimmers group will probably have to fold which is really sad because they have been using the school's pool for so many years. It's a real shame the school has had to close because it has been there for so long but I appreciate the reasons why and I can imagine the running costs of it are extremely high. It was a bit of a shock and nobody expected it but it's such a huge complex

"I don't think the group will be able to find anywhere else, especially as Crowthorn is so convenient to everyone living in the village, but I don't think there's much we can do about it.

"The nearest pool is at Turton High School but there's no guarantee they would rent it out to us or that we would be able to get it at the rates we could afford.

"The next nearest one would be Darwen and that is much further away.

"The group will have to make their own inquiries as to what they want to do and whether they want to keep it going and try and find somewhere else. "It's sad because it's something they've done every week and there's a little nucleus of them that attend week in week out to keep it going."

A spokesman for the NCH said they were not looking into the future use of the school until all the pupils and staff had been found alternative placements.

Nobody was available for comment at Turton High School.