We are very proud of our school's close links with the Rotary Club of Darwen. 

See our Rotakids page for more information about how our children help to raise funds for school, community and international projects.

We are currently supporting the Darwen Tower lego project, whilst also raising money to install a defibrillator outside for the community.

Please follow the link to the Rotary club of Darwen website

LEGO DARWEN TOWER PROJECT

The Rotary Club of Darwen has set itself the task of raising £25,000 for charity by replicating the original famous landmark of Darwen Jubilee Tower.

The Tower which can be seen over a wide area, was erected in the late 1890’s to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The club decided to mark the occasion of our present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, exceeding Victoria’s reign by building a replica of the original in LEGO©.

This will consist of approximately 25,000 bricks which are being sold for £1 each. The cost of the design and the bricks has been covered by the Rotary Club and three local charities so all the funds collected will be for charitable purposes.

The model is being built inside Darwen Market and Rotarians will be on hand to add bricks on Fridays and Staturdays.

Local charities have been invited to obtain official sponsor forms and to obtain sponsors. The charity keeps 85% of the funds they collect and donates 15% to the Darwen Rotary Club Charity Fund. If any organisations or local charities that have not contacted by the club and wish to join in please contact the link below.

There will also be a limited edition model version that are now available. If you wish to purchase one of these please send your details to the link below. They cost £52.50 plus postage and package.

Diary of the Building of Darwen Tower

December 12th 2015 -This is one of the more tricky bits as Lego works on rectangles not octagons. The inner columns contain hinges and lock into the base but the outer parts simply slide into holes in the inners.  They will only be braced when the arches are added later.

December 19th 2015 - The structure of the outer tower section is beginning to emerge.

8th January 2016  Darwen MP Jake Berry visited the RotaryClub's stall at the town's market to support their drive to raise £25,000 for charity by replicationg the Jubilee Tower in Logo bricks.  

He said "The Rotary Club do a fantastic job of supporting many locaal charities and causes in and around Darwen.  I'd encourage everyone to pop in to Darwen Market and purchase a brick".

6th May 2016 To allow the main shield to be easily seen we have rotated the model 90° as it will be exactly opposite the ground floor entry door.

September 10th - One year of building and 10,849 bricks in place.

October 2016 - Due to the closure of the Darwen Three Day Market and the relocation of traders into the main Market Hall and Annex, our space has been greatly reduced. The unit that we were previously using will become a café and the build area for the tower has been greatly reduced. We have reduced the base to one level and added castors to enable it to be turned regularly so the public can see the progress of building in more detail.

2nd December 2016 - We have now started to build the upper tower panels. Because of the spacing of the windows up the internal spiral staircase, the size of each additional section varies between three and 9 bricks tall. This will seem an uneven build until we get to the top balcony level. The first unit added today is 7 bricks high and contains 67 bricks.

9th December 2016 - St. Georges Scouts & Guides used sponsorship of the tower to raise funds for their group. The 300 bricks sponsored have been used mostly in the upper tower entry arch which contains 279 bricks. This was added today together with the adjacent wall section.

24th December 2016 – We finish the year on a high with over £13,000 raised to date. We will be adding several more set of bricks in the New Year.

February 2017 - Steady progress on the upper tower with over 13,300 bricks now in place.

24th February 2017 - The last of the model towers have now been sold. That means that there are only 250 editions in the world. They have been sent as far as Singapore and the USA and some will become collector’s items.

17th March 2017 - Making steady progress and the upper tower is becoming recognisable. Over the next few weeks we will be adding more windows, each takes 177 bricks to build.

15th April 2017 - The first of the cross-bracing beams is now in place locking panel 6 into the central column. Over the next few weeks we will add the beams for panels 2, 4 and 8 to further strengthen the Tower.
 

May 2017 - Thanks to two large donations we have added over 250 bricks this week.

8th June 2017 - District Governor Malcolm Baldwin visited the market and added a section to the Tower which has progressed noticeably over the past few weeks.

30th June 2017- Two generous donations sponsoring the main shields on the Tower.

14th July 2017 - Due to changes in the Market we have been relocated into the main market hall. Our grateful thanks to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council for their continued support.

28th July 2017 – The first of the top panel connectors is in place joining walls 3 & 4. Up to this point odd numbered walls had no bracing as Lego only works on right-angles with bracing beams half way up the even walls. The top of wall 4 is open as there is a removable false wall section that is on the original plans, to allow access to the void behind the metal staircase at the top of the tower.

26th August 2017 – We are now up to the upper shield wall this is the floor level for the second floor.

We have also got hold of the various inscriptions on the lower shield wall and added those to the model. There are 6 small shields but only three have inscriptions.  One reads “This tower was restored by public subscription June 1972   Councillor Dr. HW Lees Mayor”. The second “Commemorating the start of the building of Darwen Tower 1897 – 1997” and the third “Commemorating the granting of public access to Darwen Moor 1896 – 1996”.  Two of the other shields are blank and the last is very badly eroded but probably should also be blank.

The North facing pediment (sponsored by Woods Green Grocers) has a duplicate of the shield on the South side but is badly eroded.  It is flanked by two tablets giving details of the building of the tower. 

11th November 2017 - We have added the top floor section and are now able to start on the battlements and the dome.

9th December 2017 -Today we received a generous donation from the Friends of Darwen Library as part of the profits from their coffee morning last week.  We have now installed the first layer of the dome within the battlements on the top of the Tower.  Only 2,627 bricks to go.

26th January 2018 - 1,909 bricks to go. The first two of the dome windows are now in place and we can see the finishing line.  

27th April 2018 - We are now on the last leg with just 716 bricks to go.  One rmeining battlement section, the last of the windows and the two false sections to add before we finish the dome and add the weather cock to top of the tower. 

4th May 2018 - Last of the dome windows is now in place.

16th May 2018 - Harry Todd, a local man with muscular dystrophy undertook a sponsored walk in aid of St Cuthbert’s Church. Starting at the church he walked up to the Jubilee Tower than down to Tockholes. A remarkable achievement for someone with his condition.  He used our sponsorship forms for his mission so will donate 15% to the Rotary Tower. He raised £578.00 of which 85% is for the church funds.  As with all such sponsorship, we credit the full total against bricks, so the target of £25,000 has been passed.

26th June 2018 - We have moved the Tower back into the Market Annex and the Perpex cover has been added.

The background has been reconfigured to give a compact area that should be the permanent home of the Tower.  We have re-installed the collecting boxes and will encourage donations towards named local charities.  The first will be the fund to restore the original Jubilee Tower on Darwen Moor which needs much repair to bring it up to standard as a listed building.

July 2018 - Finally finished...