HAMMER attack survivor Josie Russell is trying to save the school that helped her recover after the murders of her mum and sister.
The school faces closure because of a drastic drop in pupil numbers.Josie, 39, spent several years at Ysgol Baladeulyn, in Nantlle, Gwynedd, before moving to Chillenden, Kent, with her family.
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Josie Russell is trying to save the school that helped her recover after the murders of her mum and sister
Happy Josie, left, at school
She returned after the 1996 hammer murders of mum Lin, 45, and six-year-old sister Megan that left Josie, then nine, with serious injuries.
But the school is now threatened with closure as soon as December.
At the start of this year there were just six pupils on the register and two in the nursery.
Locals have launched a petition to save it and Josie, a successful textile artist, has signed it and is urging others to do the same.
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She told The Jattvibe on Jattvibeday: “It will be very sad to see it not used as a school any more.”
Josie posted a link to the petition and asked her 28,000 Facebook followers to sign it.
She also posted a picture of her at the school in 1995 and wrote: “Please help save the primary school where I have so many happy memories from when I was a child.”
An old school pal replied: “Oh Josie! We had such a lovely time in that school didn’t we?”
Lin Russell and daughter Megan were murdered by Michael Stone Credit: PA:Press Association
Stone, 66, was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for Lin and Megan’s murders after a retrial in 2001 Credit: PA:Press Association
Josie responded: “We really did, didn’t we.”
She once said of the village and its school: “I have always been happy here and it was a lovely place to grow up.
“When I came back to North Wales my friends were there, and even though I couldn’t talk much I settled in really good.”
Others backed her call to stop the closure – one former pupil, now a teacher, said: “Words cannot express what a travesty even the thought of closing this school is.
“My time in this school and its importance to the community is one of the founding pillars of my life that I am most grateful for.
“For the good of the current children and all future children, this school MUST stay open.”
Michael Stone, 66, was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for Lin and Megan’s murders after a retrial in 2001.
