A FORMER pupil of a village school threatened with closure has called for a letter blitz on Monmouthshire county council in a bid to stop it closing a number of schools.

Shirley Horler, (pictured) 55, now a senior lecturer at Coleg Gwent, attended one of the threatened schools - Llanfair Kilgeddin Church in Wales Primary - with her sisters Brenda and Linda in the 1950s.

Now head of business, management and information technology at the Pontypool campus, she says her old school still holds a special place in her heart.

The tiny rural school, seven miles outside Aber-gavenny, is earmarked for closure under controversial plans in an education review by the county council.

The proposals would see up to 11 schools close in a £10 million programme, and are a result of the council's strategic review of education.

The council says this will allow it to meet a government demand that school buildings should be brought up to standard by 2010 and junior classes reduced to 30 or fewer by 2005.

Mrs Horler, who lives in Pontypool, is writing to the council to appeal for the school to remain open and wants other parents concerned about the future of Monmouthshire's small schools to do the same.

Llanfair Kilgeddin has just 28 pupils but locals say it is a vital part of the village. Mrs Horler said: "It is a shame that the school may be closed. It is a focal point of the community and has always had a tremendous impact.

"The education which I had at the school was so good that I acquired a lot of general knowledge.

"Closure of the school would mean there would be nothing there." Yesterday the Argus reported that around 450 people have attended public meetings to discuss the school closures.

A second round of public meetings will be held by the county council on Saturday mornings. The first is next weekend at King Henry VIII Comprehensive, Abergaven-ny. That will be followed by a meeting on May 11 at Chep-stow and Caldicot Comprehensive schools.