ROCK legend John Cale has spoken out on hearing that over a century of his old Amman Valley school's history has been thrown on to the scrapheap by council workers, writes Owen Lock.

Furniture and records from derelict Garnant Primary School have been dumped into skips, the Guardian has learnt.

A past pupil walking his dog near the site was horrified to see skips crammed with old record books.

Tables and chairs used right up to the school's closure two years ago were also discarded.

And veteran musician Cale, who left the Amman Valley in the mid-1960s to form the legendary New York-based Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, has told of his affection for his old school.

"I loved that building - made of the local stone you see in so many chapels," Cale, 67, told the Guardian.

"Every time I went back to the valley, I would stand at the railings and gawk, listening for the roar of classes changing.

"I'll be in the skip with the memorabilia now - travelling with it - not even knowing. Diolch yn fawr am bob peth."

Scores of other ex-pupils fear confidential information could now be in the hands of members of the public.

"Ysgol y Bedol has been on the agenda for years so the council has known Garnant School would be demolished eventually," said one.

Trevor Evans, the former Wales and Swansea forward who attended the school in the late 1950s, commented: "These records are snapshots of days gone by."

Carmarthenshire Coun-cil's principal community schools project officer Llew Thomas said relevant personal records of pupils were taken to the school they were transferring to.

"Steps were taken to remove or destroy any personal data at Garnant School," he added.