AS caretaker Linda Gregory shut the gates to Rise Carr Primary School for the final time last Friday, she and other staff struggled to hold back the tears.

When Darlington Borough Council announced plans in January to close the school because of falling pupil numbers, scores of protestors battled in vain to keep the 103-year-old school open.

Last Friday, when the children left, the old school bell was rung to mark the end of a century of history and learning.

Dinner lady Carol Beagle, 35, cooked her last school dinner for students last Thursday. A former Rise Carr pupil, she joined staff two years ago.

Last week, she cooked a Christmas dinner for the children - because last year no one knew it would be their last together.

Her children, Kingsley, ten, and Callum, seven, were the last of five generations of their family to attend the school.

Mrs Beagle's first school memory was meeting Elaine Armer, her nursery teacher, who happened to be on crutches.

At a party to mark the school's closure, Mrs Armer wiped away tears and said she was devastated to leave after spending her entire teaching career - 31 years - at the school.

"I am so sad. The staff here are such good friends, but we have promised to stay in touch and meet regularly," she said.

Mrs Armer's own parents, Marjorie and John Mason, 77 and 79, attended Rise Carr in the 1930s and can remember being ordered to take afternoon naps at the school.

Mrs Mason said: "The teachers were all brilliant and I remember all their names.

"The headteacher then was Richard Healey, we always stayed in touch and he came to our wedding."

Mr Mason said: "The school closing means I am being made redundant too, as I have helped Santa Claus here for the past ten years."

The borough council said there were too many schools in the North Road area for the number of children, and Rise Carr had to close in favour of North Road Primary and a new Harrowgate Hill Primary, in the Haughton area.

Rise Carr headteacher Tony Kemp fought alongside protestors to keep the school open.

He said at least the school had closed on a high. "After four years hard work, this has been the most successful year ever in terms of sport, music and SATs results.

"No one thinks closing is a good thing, but we have had to accept it."

The bell was rung as school started and finished last Friday. The last time it sounded was in 2001, when it celebrated an Ofsted report taking the school out of serious weaknesses.

The council said it had no plans for the building. However, North Road residents have asked for the building as a community centre.