THE CHARITY working to restore a historic but rundown building has celebrated reaching a major landmark in its long-running project.

After eight years of battling to secure funding, the Brontë Spirit charity has finished co-ordinating the first half of the project, which involves the repair and replacement of the west end roofs at The Old School Room, in Church Street, Haworth.

This part of the scheme, which cost £100,000, has ensured that the roofs of the extensions to the original building have now been replaced. The Old School Room was originally built by Reverend Patrick Brontë, father of the world famous sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne.

The property, which was constructed in 1832 to be a school for the children of Haworth, was then extended, first in 1850 and again in 1871. A spokesman for Brontë Spirit said: “It was these extension roofs, that had particularly suffered from the ravages of the Pennine weather and time, which have been restored.

“When the roofs were repaired during last summer and autumn, it was revealed they were suffering from both rot and woodworm, so many of the timbers had to be replaced.”

The celebration of the end of this part of the restoration was attended by David Pearson, a deputy lieutenant of West Yorkshire, who officially re-dedicated the roof. Also present was Worth Valley ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council Councillor Gary Swallow and the rector of the Church of England Parish of Haworth Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith. They had a chance to meet Brontë Spirit trustees and volunteers, and architects and representatives from the repair contractors.

Averil Kenyon, chairman of Brontë Spirit, told the assembled guests: “We were delighted and surprised with the positive response we received from the grant funders. Our grateful thanks go to [landfill community fund] WREN, The Garfield Weston Foundation and The Pilgrim Trust for making it possible for us to repair the building’s upper area roofs.

“Our original survey showed the west end of the building had dry rot, wet rot and woodworm but that has been restored and made watertight. Now we need to look to the future. The main hall roof – the oldest part of the building – also needs to be restored and it will cost around £100,000 to restore it.”