PUPILS from an under-threat school used the gala to protest its possible closure.
More than 20 children were supported by their parents as they joined the community to march behind their local miners' lodge banner.
Opposed to plans which could see the closure of Browney Primary School, in Meadowfield, near Durham, they carried the school flag alongside the former Browney Colliery banner in the parade from North Road, Durham.
On the way to the racecourse, they sang the school anthem, Raise the Banner, in front of dignitaries on the balcony of the Royal County Hotel, in Old Elvet.
Browney Primary is among 23 schools which may close under the county council's widespread education shake-up announced last month, to remove surplus places.
The school, serving the villages of Brandon, Langley Moor and Meadowfield, south-west of Durham, has a capacity of 145 places, but has 63 surplus places, 16 of which will be taken up in coming years.
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