An ex-pupil is selling bricks of a demolished building at his old school in aid of mental health charity, Mind.

Matt Joblin, who went to St George’s CofE secondary school in Gravesend from 1990 to 1995, started the fundraiser after hearing the “gob pit” was being knocked down.

That part of the school was so-named because it was an area where balls would end up when pupils were playing back in the 90s and, as someone went to retrieve them, other youngsters would run over to spit on that unfortunate person.

Matt admits his fundraising efforts sound a bit strange but said everyone has got behind the idea.

But he said it was “iconic” to the school and in an attempt to redeem its memory he has started “The Good Outta Bad for People In Turmoil” – the GOBPIT campaign.

The 42-year-old said: “Things have got a lot better than when I was at school back in the 90’s and the days of the 'gob pit' are long gone. The students now don't even know about it.”

He is now selling bricks from the building to raise money for North Kent Mind as he said mental health services had fallen behind as they “never receive enough funding” which has only been “exacerbated after Covid”.

Matt is asking for a minimum donation of £5 per brick from the 1976 building but said some people were donating without wanting the piece of history, which should mean more money for the charity.

The brand developer, from School Lane, Higham, added: “It started out as a bit of a laugh at the back end of last year and since then it’s become so popular with ex-students sending bricks out to old school friends now living as far away as Sydney in Australia, siblings buying for each other as Christmas presents, childhood sweet hearts that met at school have bought for their other halves, even the teachers have got involved.

“For me, my highlight was seeing old mates I’d not seen for years who’d come to pick up their bricks, then listening to them explain to their kids what the 'gob pit' was 'er mum that’s gross'. It has been a real team effort and brought the whole school community back together again”.

Executive Headteacher Steve Carey at the school arranged for current students attending St George’s to spray paint each brick with its own unique number so the legacy lives on and supplied a signed certificate of authenticity with each brick.

Matt collected the bricks and handed them out to purchasers on December 19.

At the time of writing he had raised more than £1,000 from 106 donations.

If you would like to donate visit the JustGiving page set up by Matt.