A RETIRED businessman who is to sponsor an academy in the North-East has spoken for the first time about how he wants to "leave a legacy" when he is gone.

David Crossland and his wife Anne, who founded travel company Airtours, are to provide up to £2m for Eastbourne School, in Darlington, along with co-founder, the Church of England, when it becomes an academy in September.

Yesterday, as schools minister Lord Andrew Adonis visited the school, Mr Crossland spoke of how he and his wife, who grew up in the North-West, wanted to put something back into education.

He said: "It is like leaving a legacy because it doesn't just affect the children who will be here, but children for the next 40 to 50 years.

"Anne and I are lucky enough to be able to do four academies.

"When it is our time to go, they will carry on. This is not meant to sound sappy, it is how we genuinely feel."

The Crosslands, who live in Jersey, are to sponsor three more academies in the North-West, including Rochdale and Bolton.

They have just employed a headteacher who turned around an inner-city London school, and who will work for the Crosslands as a mentor in the four academies.

When Mr Crossland retired from Airtours, a friend put him in touch with the Church of England, who wanted to sponsor some academies.

The couple toured 40 to 50 schools, some in new buildings, some in dilapidated old facilities.

"A new building changes the culture and ethos of the children and the teachers," said Mr Crossland.

"We started thinking we wanted to do two academies and we both came from the North of England."

At first, they hoped to build academies in Rochdale and Burnley, their home towns, but Burnley was not interested.

Mr Crossland said: "We both came from loving homes, but neither of us had parents that were wealthy. We felt we had done quite well and we wanted to put something back.

"Rochdale welcomed us with open arms. We talked to the church about other places with a similar set of circumstances and they brought us to Darlington," he said.

When asked what role the couple intended to play in the Eastbourne Church of England Academy, as it is to be known, Mr Crossland said he hoped they would visit as often as they could, but they hadn't decided who was to take the sponsor's seats on the governing body.

He said: "We are looking for a Christian ethos. From our point of view we want children who are happy to go to school, then come out of school honest and happy with open minds, so that they will see the opportunities for them here and in other places.

"If we do that, it will be a big achievement."