5. Numbers had increased far more than we anticipated in one year. We had established a real community feel to the nursery.
We finally re-register for 8am to 6pm daily, instead of 9am to 3.30pm and for 46 weeks of the year, instead of 35 weeks. So we are able to begin to take younger children and babies to help women return to work should they wish to.
Sue Leader joins us. With planning to extend at Hockliffe Road refused we had to look for a bigger building.
We find a new bigger building to turn into a pre-school centre, offering both sessional care and full day care. The planning application for the old Job Centre building in North Street is taking so long we will have just 3 months to convert it. It will have 180 full and part time places for children from 2 months to 5 years, including children sponsored by the social services who are on the "At risk" register.
The old offices in North St was perfect.
Finally both buildings are about to open. Work has begun, all the painting is being done just by us and our friends. There are over 20 rooms to paint and endless corridors! I never wanted to see another paint brush again! What a team! We finally finish and move the sessional care children in, leaving the day care children in the original building in Hockliffe Road.
I had my first experience of being a woman in the business world in the 70s. Three banks refused to give me a loan to buy North Street because I was a woman. I finally met David Russell from Nat West at a networking event who willingly agreed to give me one. Thank you David!
Charlotte Orton is our Nativity baby. She later becomes our first baby, other than Philip, to register when we open a day nursery. Our Queen on the throne for 25 years. We have a Jubilee Party June 1977
By September 1978 the Hockliffe Road site was sold and all the children moved to North Street. We as a family moved into a large flat on the top floor of the building. More rooms to paint!
Back to Billington playing fields for sports day in July, parents watch a father and toddler race.
Then to All Saints church in Leighton Buzzard later in the year for Harvest Festival.
Thomas Ort, Mark Watts, Timothy Brown, Keri Moss, Sarah Mitchell
For the Leighton Buzzard Carnival in June 1979, we borrowed a lorry from Tony Dawson and built a huge float in the shape of a big red house with the words “this is the house, here is the door windows 1, 2, 3, 4”
Hello Tom!
On a real lorry all day! Boy Heaven!
