PUPILS, parents and staff have celebrated the official opening of their new £250,000 school.

The Bishop of Salford, the Right Rev Terence Brain, visited St Mary's RC School in Horwich to bless all the classrooms and led a service to mark its official status as a new school.

Pupils had moved from their previous home in Chorley New Road to the new building in Victoria Road last year.

St Mary's was created from two former primaries: Holy Family in Victoria Road and Our Lady of the Rosary, more than a mile away in a building built in 1886.

Administrative assistant Angela Richardson, said: "The afternoon was a great success and the bishop was marvellous with the children.

"They were a bit frightened of him at first, but he made a real effort to speak to all of them and was impressed that two schools had come together so well."

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