Chapelhall: Difference between revisions

Chapelhall is a village outside the town of Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. However, with house building this distinction between Airdrie and Chapelhall is being eroded. Established as a small mining village in the 19th century it now has population of around 6,000 today. Chapelhall is well situated just off the M8 motorway 13 miles east of Glasgow city centre and around 33 miles west of Edinburgh. Chapelhall is also near to many of Lanarkshires main towns,(Airdrie town centre via roads: 3 miles), Bellshill 4 miles, Coatbridge 5 miles, Motherwell 5 miles, Hamilton 7 miles and Cumbernauld 8 miles. The Eurocentral freight village/industrial estate is just a mile or so away and employs people from around Lanarkshire Glasgow and West lothian.The rail-freight village links with Grangemouth docks 28 miles away, (England to the south and beyond to mainland Europe).

Chapelhall lies on the opposite side of the North Calder Water from Calderbank and has very similar history. Iron working and coal mining were once prominent - with three blast furnaces working in the early 1830s. The old village also had a quarry, a brickworks and a bakery. The first curator of Kew Gardens, William Aiton, began work as a gardener in Woodhall House near Chapelhall.

In December 2001, North Lanarkshire Council published it's Schools and Centres 21 (SC21) Programme^[1], a Public Private Partnership under the broader Education 2010 plan to develop new school facilities throughout the North Lanarkshire area.

In Chapelhall, the plan proposed a new joint campus for Chapelhall Primary non-denominational and St Aloysius Roman Catholic Primary Schools, which would replace the previous two separate school buildings at Gibb Street (Chapelhall) and on the Main Street (St Aloysius Primary). The initial proposal was based on the prototype Cumbernauld Primary/St Andrew's Primary site, which was endorsed by the Archdiocese of Glasgow, consisting of one public entrance, a shared office, library, gymnasium and dining hall and two adjacent staffrooms with a moveable partition that could be kept open (as both staffs preferred to do).^[2]

In October 2004, however, The Diocese of Motherwell objected to the joint campus proposal, calling for separate entrances, staffrooms, staff toilets, libraries, gymnasia and nurseries, with a shared dining hall. They lodged a petition with the Scottish Government under Section 22D of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 ^[3] - a subsequent review by ministers concluded that North Lanarkshire Council had acted in good faith and that the joint campus proposals did not breach the legislation.

In December 2004 a series of concessions including greater segregation of staff and pupils allowed the building work to proceed. The contract was awarded to Balfour Beatty Capital, rading as Transofmr Schools (North Lanarkshire) Funding Plc^[4].

One concession was a moratorium on any further shared campus arrangements until the Chapelhall joint campus scheme had been evaluated^[5]. This moratorium was lifted in 2009 following the publication of a final evaluation report on shared campus schools in North Lanarkshire, produced by Dan Sweeney, a former senior official in the council's education department. The report largely endorsed the shared campus model and found that, in particular, "the autonomy of the individual schools, including ethos and educational principles, has been maintained, and the implementation of the Catholic Education Commission Charter has not been affected"^[6].

The Chapelhall campus was opened on 18th August 2006^[7][8].

The design capacity of Chapelhall Primary is 250 and St Aloysius Primary is 320. Both schools previously provided nursery classes which have been combined to provide Early Education classes. The physical education facilities within the new building, including an on-site 7-a-side floodlit synthetic pitch, are available for community use. In addition the assembly hall/gym, dining/general purpose room and other community areas are accessible to the community^[9].

Most of the children from Chapelhall Primary graduate to Caldervale High School and most of the children from St Aloysius Primary graduate St Margaret's High School.

There are three established Christian churches in Chapelhall. They are as follows:

• St Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, Main Street,
• Chapelhall Church of Scotland, (Presbyterian) Russell Street
• Chapelhall Gospel Hall, (Brethren) Roberton Street

Football

Senior/Professional Football

The following members of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League are within a short drive of Chapelhall:

• Airdrie United
• Albion Rovers
• Clyde
• Hamilton Academical
• Motherwell

Junior Football

The following junior clubs are within a short drive from Chapelhall:

• Bellshill Athletic
• Carluke Rovers
• Cumbernauld Juniors
• Shotts Bon Accord
• Wishaw Juniors

Amateur Football

Chapelhall has also had a proud history of amateur football with the successful (but now disbanded "Bankhall Villa" hailed from both Chapelhall and nearby Calderbank, hence the name Bankhall.

Chapelhall is also home to The Swan Inn AFC who are currently playing in the Airdrie & Coatbridge 1st Division.

Youth Football

Chapelhall also have a boys team playing under the name "Chapelhall Thistle".

Speedway

A speedway training track operated at Chapelhall in the early 1950s.

The local website in Chapelhall is The Chapelhall Eye http://www.chapelhalleye.co.uk

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chapelhall.

• Airdrie Museum

55°50′N 3°56′W / 55.833°N 3.933°W / 55.833; -3.933

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