THE head teacher of a village school has thanked the owners of a local pub after they raised hundreds of pounds to help stock a new school library.

Mark McDermott, head teacher of Rufforth Primary School, near York, said the cheque for £450, which was handed over by owners of The Tankard Inn, Andrea and Nigel Dickinson was a “much appreciated gesture”.

He said: “They have a child at the school and we are a tight-knit community.

“They decided to raise funds for us with a quiz night and domino matches.

“As a small school with limited resources, this is a much-appreciated gesture – not just from the school but from the whole community.”

Mrs Dickinson said: “They have got a grant to redevelop the library so we took it on ourselves to raise the money to stock it.

“It was nice to see because it was very well supported. We have a steady flow of locals to the pub and it was good to see them supporting a local cause.”