Old Pennar School - Open Meeting on 11 June 2015

The meeting is at Pennar Hall, Treowen Road, Pennar, Pembroke Dock, SA72 6SN.

See the poster below. See you there!

Old Pennar School - Late Arrival of the Block Plan

This is a rushed post as I am heading for The National Archives in a few minutes!!

True to his word, the planning officer covering the application to demolish the Old Pennar School has checked through the files available on line and added (this morning) the block plan of the proposal. This had been previously  unavailable to view on the internet.

This plan can be found here:

Old Pennar School - New Development Block Plan

The file available directly from the PCC Planning Portal above (in the best available resolution) is shown below, (at much lower resolution), to deliver a quick indication of the new information it gives us about the proposal. I would strongly advise downloading the original and studying that.

It is particularly noticeable that the new buildings come very close to the road (as indicated in the crude SketchUp models produced in an earlier post. The buildings also overlook surrounding properties, particularly those to the north in School Gardens.

It is unfortunate that this plan was not available sooner. I initially asked about it on 8 May 2015, having noticed it was missing when matching the available drawings to the Planning Papers and Access Statement.

Something you can do:

I believe that the late availability of this drawing warrants the period for consultation being extended by 7 days so that the new information it brings can be used to better inform any comments and observations about the proposal. If you agree that this is a fair and reasonable request, please post below or let PCC Planning (Mr Martin Allen) know directly. 

Old Pennar School and the Great Oil Tanks Fire

19 August 1940 was a day that will feature prominently in any history of Pembroke Dock. It was when the clear blue sky of a summer's day was turned black and the Second World War made the first of many impressions on PD.

The story of the oil tanks fire has been told many times and can be read about in more detail on these links:

Phil Carradice tells the story of the bombing of the Oil Tank in Pennar. .....

......and here.

Photographs and more from the Western Telegraph.

The Old School Pennar played a significant role in the drama, as related by Vernon Scott in his book "In Harms Way":

The Photograph below shows the view looking east down Military Road from the site of the Oil Tanks after the cataclysmic Oil Tank Fire in August 1940. 

Does Old Pennar School, a refuge for the selfless firemen that fought the inferno, now face its own cataclysm?

See the caption below

The western end of the Barrack Hill was crowded with locals watching the spectacle of
the oil fuelled blaze. Did the young girl go to Old Pennar School? What would she think now?

The two photographs above are courtesy of Margaret Longueville, who served as an ambulance driver in PD in the Summer of 1940.