PUPILS and staff from Whitedown Special School bid a fond farewell to Alton on Tuesday with the presentation of a bench, set in a shaded spot by the play area in the Public Gardens. In a moving ceremony, the children sang and danced by the bench, which was decked out for the occasion with blue balloons. It is an exciting time for Whitedown as the school moves to a new purpose-built facility in Bordon, but a sad one too - the school has been part of the community for 45 years and it is a major challenge to become part of a much bigger school and in unfamiliar surroundings. In presenting the bench to Alton Town Mayor Dave Crocker, acting head of Whitedown Lyn Cannon expressed sincere thanks to the people of Alton town. "We really will miss you very much. Thank you for being our friends," she said. In response, Mr Crocker said that Alton would indeed miss Whitedown but he wished pupils, parents and staff well in their new premises which should provide a "wonderful opportunity" for all concerned. From day one Whitedown School seems to have attracted proud and determined support from the people of Alton. It opened in 1961 as a training centre for children and adults with learning disabilities and in 1970, when the adult training centre opened in Chawton Park Road, it became one of three schools in the area - the others being at East Worldham and Headley - to take children with learning disabilities, although at the time "they were considered unable to be educated," said Mrs Cannon. That is certainly not the case now. In the early 90s the other two schools were closed down and Whitedown Special School was developed to provide an education for young people aged from two to 19 - all with special educational needs and who travel to Alton from across East Hampshire and the Surrey border. In 1996 some new buildings were added and a hydrotherapy pool built. The pool cost £110k, of which £95k was raised by the school and the local community. The pool has been used over the years by the NHS and other groups for therapy sessions. Whitedown currently comprises a nursery unit, a main school and a further education unit for 35 youngsters aged from 16 to 19, all of them working to the national curriculum. The FE students go out on work experience and to Alton College and this year, for the first time, five of them spent time at BECOT in Basingstoke doing vocational taster sessions. Over the years the school has enjoyed the support of local groups such as Alton Rotarians who have taken the children on outings to Paultons Park, Rotaract who designed and helped in the garden, and Alton Lions who took the children on regular trips to the fair on The Butts. But one of their key strengths has been its location - being just a stone's throw away from the town pupils and staff have been able to walk into the centre to use the park, the museums and the library, to have coffee and to go shopping. "We have become a recognised and accepted part of the local community and are always made to feel really welcome, which is tremendously important to our children," said Mrs Cannon. And it has not been all about taking. A key part of raising pupils' self esteem has been via their own fund raising efforts on behalf of other people and causes, amongst them the victims of the Asian Tsunami and children living in deprived areas of Albania and Romania. "The children love taking part in charity events, " said Ms Cannon, who paid tribute to the school council who are responsible for helping to run most of the event and whose idea it was to provide a bench in the Public Gardens as a useful and lasting memory of their time in the town. When they move to their new school in Chalet Hill, Bordon, the Whitedown children can expect to enter a very different world. Hollywater School will bring together pupils with moderate learning difficulties, currently educated at Meadow School in Bordon, and those from Whitedown, many of whom have profound disabilities and complex special needs. A concern of the staff at Whitedown is that the Alton-based children currently enjoy a small, family-orientated environment and may find it difficult to adjust. But while Hollywater will be a much bigger school, it should open up new opportunities and the chance to mix with a wider pier group. It will offer state-of-the-art science, cooker, art and craft, and design and technology facilities, a computer room, a library, a dedicated music room, a sensory studio and a brand new hydrotherapy pool with interactive sound and lighting. While the Whitedown pupils will be taking along some of their own equipment, including the adventure playground, their existing hydrotherapy pool will be left behind and the land in Alton redeveloped for housing. One concern is for a tulip tree, planted 25 years ago in memory of a pupil which, most poignantly, has decided to flower for the first time this year. According to Mrs Cannon, it is too big to move and the hope is that it can become the subject of a TPO and remain in situ, as a lasting reminder of all pupils who have spent time at Whitedown and of the fun, love and laughter that was an integral part of what was "a very special school".