The Raffle

A new extension to a school in Gloucestershire has just been opened, in part thanks to money raised by raffling off a signed Coldplay guitar.

Swell Church of England Primary School near Cheltenham spent £300,000 building a new classroom and toilet blocks.

The £300,000 had been raised by local benefactors and £11,000 was raised in a raffle which included a Coldplay guitar.

Head of school Alison Rawlings said it was an " incredibly large project".

" We were a two-class school but housing three classes so we needed the New Space to create a third classroom.

" We also had Falling Down cloakroom blocks which have been replaced and managed to sneak in getting a beautiful new entrance hall as well as a new headteachers office, " She Said .

Ground finally broke on the extension earlier this year after The Guitar to The Raffle which raised £11,000 in total.

A parent of The School had a connection to Coldplay and asked them to help out.

Parent Nadia Moule's husband, Glenn, is a friend of the bassist Guy Berryman and contacted him asking for help.

Mrs Moule jokingly said " some sweet-talking" was involved.

She actually met her husband-to-be at a Coldplay concert in 2009 as his band Howling Bells was supporting them in their Viva La Vida Tour.

She Said : " We were absolutely amazed by the generosity of offering The Guitar .

" Everyone worked very hard to raise all the finds and now to see The Children in the classrooms, it has so much more space and in a Little Village - it means everything to us. "

Head of school Alison Rawlings said The School had nationwide interest in The Raffle but The Guitar was won by a local fan and is still in The Village .

She Said : " When we were thinking about planning our raffle that was not The Star prize that we were expecting.

" We had nationwide interested in our online raffle, people As Far as Scotland put entries in. "

She added she was thankful for everyone's help in raising The Money .