New pre-school opens

A £100,000 pre-school has opened its doors to children for the first time.

Hope Church in Oswaldtwistle has created the Hope Pre-school for up to 60 children aged two to five years old.

The Ofsted-registered facility will have a ‘Christian ethos’ and leaders say it is the culmination of a two-year fundraising and building process.

Samuel Duerden, chairman of trustees, said it is the start of an exciting new venture for the charity.

He said: “As a church we have always done a lot for families in the area. We run parent and toddler groups four times a week with over 300 kids coming in and we have a lot of young families in the church.

“It’s a continuation of what we’ve done, a natural evolution of the work we already do with families.”

The pre-school has been built next to the popular church with the help of a £30,000 grant from Newground Together.

Samuel, 33, from Oswaldtwistle, said: “Since we started it’s been a two-year process. We have had to raise the finances and we’ve done all kinds of sponsored bike rides and walks.

“A lot of the work that’s taken place like the decoration has been volunteer driven with church members or people in the community giving their time.

“Some of the staff are members of Hope Church and the money was raised predominantly from the church. It cost us about £100,000 to do, including equipment.

“Newground Together sponsored us and gave us £30,000 for the outside play area which includes sand pits, a gravel path and an artificial grass area and it looks really good.”

Fifteen children started at the pre-school which opened on Tuesday and the numbers will rise to 20 by the start of September 27.

For more information call 01254 01254 372771 or email hello@ introducinghope.com.