A FORMER pupil of All Saints' Infant School has come up with an unusual way of preserving his memories of the old school building and his childhood days there.

Julian Richards, 44, was horrified when he heard the school was to be pulled down. He attended the school in 1963 and has happy memories of his time there. So he decided to go down to the site and take a reminder.

"I asked the builders if I could take a piece of the old hardwood flooring that they were ripping up," Mr Richards of Wheatley Road said.

"I thought I could make a picture frame with it and put an old school photograph in it to have a tangible reminder of the school."

It was while Mr Richards was doing this he realised how many other people were interested in having a picture frame as a keepsake for themselves.

He said: "I thought 'hang on - don't be selfish', other people want one as well. So I went back to the site and bought enough of the hardwood floor to make three hundred frames."

Mr Richards has already sold 30 picture frames. He is selling the frames at £10 each and £2 from the sale of each frame is going into the new All Saints' School fund.

Mr Richards said: "I spoke to the head teacher at the school and he thought it was a great idea. The problem is there must be so many people who would like one who have moved away from the area. I thought through the Ilkley Gazette we might be able to let those people know who have moved further afield."

His picture frames are on display in his showroom at The Kitchen Range on Leeds Road.

He added: "I will be giving up my Sundays for weeks to make these frames but it's making a lot of people very happy and that is why I'm doing it.

"It's amazing to think how many people have sat or walked on these pieces of wood over the years - thousands. The school was built around 1906 so these pieces of wood are antique when you buy them.

"We are limiting orders of the frames to two at the moment to make sure everyone who wants one gets one.

"Then if there are any left over we will contact the people who wanted more. The other day I sold frames to four generations of the same family - it's amazing."

The former infant school building on Leeds Road has been demolished leaving only the original archway that formed the entrance to the school.

Pupils of All Saints' Primary School moved to a state-of-the-art new building on Skipton Road last year.