PARENTS have condemned the decision to shut two schools today because of the funeral of gangster Desmond Noonan.
Staff at Chorlton High School and Thomas Aquinas High School sent a letter home with nearly 1,800 pupils telling their families that the schools would be closed on the advice of the police and education authority.
Both schools are in Nell Lane near Southern Cemetery, where the funeral cortege will travel with an estimated 3,000 mourners.
A letter to parents of the 1,183 pupils at Chorlton High says: "I write to inform you that acting on the advice of the local police and local authority we have to close the school to all students.
"This is because of a high-profile funeral that is coming in close proximity to the school. I apologise for the late notice regarding this but, due to the nature of the event, details have only just been made available to the school."
It is signed by head-teacher Peter Kennedy and tells parents to contact the school if they would like to discuss the decision. But, by the time pupils gave the letter to parents last night, the school was closed.
Illegal
A similar letter was sent to pupils at 595-pupil Thomas Aquinas School.
One mother said: "I think it's absolutely disgusting. It's illegal to leave a child alone so I have no choice but to take the day off and all because of a gangster's funeral."
She added: "Who is going to pay for my childcare? The police, the council, the Noonans?" The boy's grandmother added: "It would have been safer to keep the school open. Now the kids will be hanging around to watch."
Desmond Noonan, 46, died from stab wounds on Merseybank Avenue in Chorlton, Manchester, last month. A 41-year-old man has been charged with his murder.
No-one at the schools or Manchester city council was available for comment last night.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "At no point did we advise the schools to close. When the schools suggested closing at 1pm we advised them that we did not believe it was necessary. They later came back to say they were closing altogether and we again said we did not think it was necessary but that it was their choice."
The funeral cortege will leave Cherry Tree Road, Northern Moor, at around 11.45am, making its way to St Aidan's Church on Wythenshawe Road.
Should the schools have closed for the funeral? Have your say.
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What? We can't take children out of schools to go on family holidays yet we can shut a whole school for someones funeral. This is just glorifying this bloke who was on TV laughing because the police say he is behind a load of murders. The world hasd gone mad
This is stupid; why should parents have to give up their work day on the say so of a school because of a gangster's funeral? They should NOT have closed at all, and gone on as normal, who is going to compensate parents for lost work pay as a result of this?
Shocking. This could be interpreted as a mark of 'respect' to a gangster. What kind of example is that to our young people.
Gloryfication of a bad man..yes the world is mad..
Basically the LEA is teaching our future generations that being a 'glorified gangster' is a better way to recognition than being a hard working educated member of society. This just shows what lows this country is sinking to.
My child attends one of the schools which closed. By the school's own admission, the funeral will be taking place during a time when pupils would have been in school. Unless there was a direct threat to the school, how could the children not be safe? The procession from Northenden to the cemetary will not even pass the school. This decision has resulted in the hundreds of teenagers being left alone, and perhaps some will choose to go to the cemetery to see what all the fuss is about. Secondly it has bestowed a 'celebrity' status on Mr Noonan and his family.
Eh?
This is a disgrace. The Police should have forced the funeral away from the schools, or told the organisers to do it some other time that would not inconvinience decent honest folk.
I'm also sickened this criminal shall be buried close to many of my own relatives.
Its a joke that they have closed 2 schools for a gangsters funeral why should we have to suffer for the life they lead you play with fire you get burned simple, why should my 2 children miss a day of school becuase of some gangsters its stupid and i hope this never happens again
This Gangster you are all talking about is someones son
and father,brother. so what they have closed a school for a day. you all want to have a bit more respect for the family. i am sure if this happened to your family you wouldnt be moaning about childcare cost.
Nobody is perfect , all right he lived dangerous but he didnt deserve to lose his life. And from personal experience my heart goes out to his family.
no the schools should have been kept open.ive never heard anything so stupid!
Ste,
Yeh this is someones son and I do feel for the family but Noonan did go on TV smirking about people getting killed. I know many people that have experienced tragic things in life but I feel more for the other people who have suffered due to this so called ganster and his gang.
Is ste in stockport as stupid as his comments? If this happened to a member of my family there would be no debate about school closure, as my family have not bragged about the number of people they have killed. Jumping on the band wagon of the "mourning" of a criminal is a sad reflection of the idiots attending. How many of these people really knew him. Pathetic.
respect is a good thing as the children at those schools will today learn . The noonan family
will always be in manchesters history like the krays in london if you didnt no dessie then you wouldnt know the good things that he did for the peaple he knew and didnt Today is there day so show a little respect ..
rip dessie
With reference to Ste, I can rexpect that this person was a father son and brother. So was my grandfather, yet the schools did not care. My grandfather was loved yet the streets stayed open. Very few people are worth that level of celebrity. This person is not worth the effort that has been expended.
Besides, how many other fathers, sons and brothers has he sent out of this world?
having followed the funeral procession thru northern moor icame home to find these comments after seeing peaple crying at the side of the road I am ashamed This guy would help anybody and a lot of crime stopped as a result of the noonan brothers gmp labeled them as gangsters in the 80s and it stuck with them gmp need to let go and let the family move on rest in peace dessie
The schools should not have been closed. The children would have been far safer in the classroom, and no doubt they would have taken a nosy at the funeral to see what all the fuss was about. A terrible example to set for our children
I think it would have been better to have the pupils in school cos know the pupils will around to go and be near to the funeral
I was fuming when I saw the letter, Chorlton High lost many days of schooling when they moved from Darley Avenue doing work that could have been carried out during the holidays. At least those lost days were to do with school matters. I emailed the school pointing out that perhaps they should have suggested to the police to get the funeral moved to Saturday when it would not inconvience upwards of 1000 families. I am still waiting for a reply or even an acknowledgement that my email has been received.
if the police advise the schools to close then they much of had there reasons. and if you did have to take a day of work what did you do that day i bet you dtood and had a nosey at the funeral why didnt you take you child out for the day and make the most of it . and to all the people who said he desirves to die because he killed 25 people have you got proof of this was you there if not dont believe everything you read or see on tv i know what he said on tv but he could of been messing about and also if you cant say it to there faces dont say it at all and what about his family have a bit of respect and mind your own f ****** bussiness.
My sons school is always shutting for a day here and there through minor problems which we deal with.
This wasnt a small funeral and people have the right to say goodbye to loved ones when they pass away or are viscously murdered please dont forget this although we may not agree with his lifestyle he was someone son and his mother father and fmaily had a right to say goodbye which they did in thier own way.
it isnt the end of the world for heavens sake the schools being shut was for the safety of the chidren who may have been in isnt that whats most important at the end of the day.
we could blame mr noonans lifelstyle on putting thier chidlren at risk that day hence the schools closure but the finger would be pointed in the wrong dierection for only people wishing to do the well wishers harm would have caused trouble after all so youre pointing the fingers at the wrong people.
this was just a huge funeral and local areas had to be shut for one day.
big deal.
lee
I do not understand why something as simple as this could make the front page of the newspaper. Was there nothing more newsworthy? As far as I'm concerned the schools acted in the best interest of pupils. My son attends Chorlton High School and is in his crucial year 11 and I am pleased that the school put his personal safety above anything else. The media has blown things up way out of proportion and have glorified and perhaps even 'created' their own gangster. Why then would the same media complain when schools take action to protect their youngsters? May I suggest that if anything like this happens again in the future the front page may be better spent portraying 'news'!
what an absolute disgrace.two schools closed causing massive disruption to our childrens education.
i think it was rite that they closed the school it is respect ! n who ever thinks it is not rite then ur silly :) XxxxxX
im his nephew im thank full for the parents who have suported us threw this time, and for the 1s who are anoyed just think of the amount of people who feel safe haveing noonans around so think twice before you comment
i think it is disgracefull that schools were shut just 4 a man who reckoned he was bad. just because he was a "gangster" it doesnt mean he should get special treatment if i died no one would be bothered enough 2 shut down 2 schools.