SCHOOL teachers and pupils turned the clock back 70 years to celebrate the opening of a sports and dining hall.

The £1.5m facility at Corporation Road Primary School, Darlington, was opened with a Second World War-themed ceremony.

The building, which replaces the school's previous kitchen and dining hall, includes a kitchen, multi-purpose hall, storage space, changing rooms, toilets and a resource room.

As well as providing improved catering and dining facilities, the building will be used for sport, drama and dance. It is hoped it can also be used by the wider community.

Audrey Bennett, a school governor who was a pupil at the school during the Thirties, opened the hall.

To mark the occasion, it was transformed into a Second World War museum, displaying artefacts and work produced by the pupils in years three and four.

Parents were also invited to the event, which included performances from Darlington Forum's Candlelit Cabaret Show.

Headteacher Peter King said: "We are really pleased to be able to link the old and the new with the official opening of our hall.

"The children have put in a lot of work, and are rightly proud to present it in their own museum. It's important that the stories of the Second World War, and their significance, are not lost."