HOLY Cross College held an official opening ceremony for its latest £2 million developments.

Friday's (March 14) celebrations saw the naming of the Maureen Haverty Building and the opening of the refurbished Summerfield Building

The Mayor and Mayoress of Bury, Councillors John and Stella Smith, attended the ceremony along with other invited guests and dignitaries, and were given a tour of the premises.

The Maureen Haverty Building stands on the site of the former convent and a chapel. Up until 1992 it was still inhabited by sisters of the Order of the Cross and one of them was the late Sister Maureen Haverty. She used to be the head of religious studies at the girls' grammar school, and also at the college, and even when she retired she still spent a lot of time in the college and among the students.

Assistant principal Dave Gardner said: "She was one of the most popular people I have ever met. Everybody, students and staff, liked her. Even now, when I think of her the first thing I remember is her smile. The only time she wasn't smiling was when she was concerned about someone, and she was one of those people who made you smile because she always was. You just felt better for meeting her, and there aren't too many people like that around."

The building is a £1.4million three-storey teaching block which contains 20 high quality classrooms, IT area and reprographics area.

The Summerfield building is the large Victorian building prominent in Manchester Road. It was originally two detached houses called Summerfield and Fern Villa, dated 1864. The Daughters of The Cross, a religious order of nuns, moved into the property in 1881 to establish a church school in Bury. This order still owns the site and governs the college. Over the years the houses were joined together with various extensions and links.

The £650,000 refurbishment of it has resulted in locating the main entrance of the college in a high profile position on Manchester Road. All administrative functions are now housed in Summerfield and a new visual arts department is housed on the top floor. Many original features of the buildings have been retained in an attempt to preserve some character.

Both schemes were supported by the Further Education Funding Council.