When Conquest School closed its doors at the end of June 1996, it wasn’t just for summer vacation. The building was to remain vacant, a victim of funding cuts.
That was the plan. Instead, a group of concerned community members decided to fill the school again, with businesses instead of students.
Conquest students are now bused to Outlook, Sask. about 30 kilometres away.
“We had seen in other small towns how the old school building was left standing with broken windows, and sometimes a construction crew would come in and take what they needed, and you’re left with just an empty shell,” said Jean Jones, secretary of the Conquest Community Improvement Association.
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See the bright side
“We were really sad to see our kids go to another school,” Jones said, “but we’ve tried to make it a positive thing.”
The association has turned the building into a community centre, with space for the local 4-H group, the Elks and Royal Purple Service Club, a hairdresser and the Owl’s Roost, a branch of the Wheatland Library.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the project. The town council was initially approached to buy the school, but voted it down by a narrow margin.
“They (council members) didn’t want to take a chance of putting money in it,” said mayor Ernie Adair, who helped form the improvement association after the vote.
Once council said no, the association offered to purchase the school. Since there was no other interest in the building, the school division sold it to the organization for $1. The association pays for heating, lighting and other costs with rent it collects and by holding fund-raisers.
The Owl’s Roost is the building’s most recent tenant. It is open one day a week and staffed by six volunteers on a rotating basis. Until now, the bookmobile stopped in the village once a month.
The official opening of the Owl’s Roost and the centre is set for Sept. 27 at 2 p.m.
