Milnrow Pre-school celebrate 50-year anniversary

Present: Children and their parents from over the years helped staff celebrate the pre-school’s 50th birthday on Saturday

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Milnrow Pre-school Playgroup celebrated their 50-year anniversary on Saturday 24 June with an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed tea party in Milnrow Memorial Park.

The group took part by in the annual Milnrow and Newhey Carnival before the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ under the Cenotaph.

On the day, children and their parents sold cakes they had baked, cold drinks and had a tombola and ‘surprise jar’ stall. In total, they raised £452 towards new equipment at the preschool.

The preschool was set up by the people of Milnrow in 1967. Local businesses at the time contributed towards the construction of the building on Charles Lane. There is space for 66 children to attend daily, split into a morning or afternoon session.

Education has changed a lot since the playschool opened, according to manager of 20 years, Melanie Healey.

She said: “It’s very education based now. When it opened, the playgroup was very play-orientated, somewhere for children to socialise and be independent away from their parents. It wasn’t as structured and things were less documented.

“Once the Government brought in the 15 hours a week funding, they wanted to see clear developments happen so everything is recorded.”

The longest serving member of staff is Lin Sladen, who has worked at the pre-school for 27 years. Currently there are eight members of staff, although this is set to become nine in September with the introduction of the 30 hours’ funding from the Government.

The 30 hours free childcare applies to parents of three and four-year olds who are in employment.

In the coming months, the children will also be decorating the village’s ‘Wishing Tree’ with clocks, Alice characters and other decorations. They also plan on holding other fundraisers over the year to go towards roof blinds for the conservatory, so that it may be used during the summer months.