A SKELETON which has been in the labs at Haydock High for more than 40 years was laid to rest with a fitting burial.

A ceremony took place at GreenAcres Woodland Burials, in Rainford on Thursday morning (December 3).

The burial was attended by a dozen year nine pupils from the school, where the skeleton had affectionately been known as 'Arthur'. A service had also taken place at the school beforehand.

It is unknown how or why he arrived at the school but Sandra Dixon, a technician in the school's art department and Bill Craddock at Haydock Funeral Services helped uncover information on Arthur's background.

A forensic report showed that it was a male skeleton between 24 and 30 and most likely to be from India. He had a birth defect of the lower spine and was between 4ft 11 and 5ft 1 in height.

Following the discovery Bill offered to provide Arthur with a full funeral including a wicker coffin, hearse and bearers free of charge.

GreenAcres Woodland Burials in Rainford stepped in to provide a burial plot for free in their orchard which is in Lord Derby's estate.

Students carried his coffin and laid Arthur into the plot with flowers thrown down to be buried with him. A Christian prayer was said, with a traditional Hindu funeral prayer also read, with that believed to most likely have been his religion.

"It's been a very respectful day and the pupils were a credit to the school and treated it with solemnity," said Ann Ashburner, head of art at the school.

"They had a beautiful service before to learn about his history. He didn't have the greatest of lives and had a childhood illness and nutritional problems so we wanted to give him the best send-off we could for the years he served us at Haydock."

Keely Thompson, of Greenacres, added: "It was a privilege and an honour to be able offer Arthur his funeral and resting place. It was very fitting and dignified and has been a very long process."