STAFF, parents and children are celebrating saving their village pre-school from closure.

Exbourne Pre-School has been taken over by a volunteer committee of parents in the nick of time, after months of fundraising to secure its future.

Manager Torie Perryman, who has fought for two years to save the pre-school, said: ‘It is absolutely fantastic news. We have managed to turn a crisis into a godsend and it is all down to the tireless work of the new committee of parents. They are all volunteers and they have put in their own time and effort to save it.

‘The pre-school feeds into the village primary school and if we had closed down, it would have had a knock on effect on the whole village. So I’m absolutely thrilled that we have managed to hang on. We have bucked the trend, because a lot of pre-schools are closing and we have got children who left us to go to other places now returning.’

The tiny pre-school has been going for 30 years in the village but in recent years has been beset with financial problems due to the small number of children on roll.

It was taken over several years ago by Okehampton-based Community Links, a community interest company, after the previous committee ran into problems.

However, in February this year, Community Links appealed for a group to take over running the pre-school, saying it could no longer afford to do so itself.

Since then, staff and parents have been working to establish themselves as a charity so they could take it on. They have raised funds to put it on a firmer financial footing, raising £1,200 to underpin their efforts to secure its future.

With a deadline given by Community Links of October 20, a new voluntary committee of parents secured Ofsted’s approval just in time.

Torie said the whole community had supported the fundraising efforts. They included a quiz night and a charity auction at the Red Lion in Exbourne, with local businesses donating prizes to auction off.

‘It is really touching, after two years of fighting to return it to what it was, it really restores your faith in human nature,’ she said. ‘We have had parents whose children were at the pre-school working like mad to try and get the new Ofsted registration. They knew what the pre-school had done for their children and they wanted to help save it.’

‘I’ve worked here for nine years and my other colleagues have been here for over 16 years. My son came here and he’s now 13,’ she added. ‘Because we have a small family feel, a lot of children come to us from larger pre-schools. We are able to offer one-on-one for children with special needs and slightly vulnerable children, and for parents who need a bit of extra support. We are there for the parents as much as the children.’

Community Links manager Megan Kenneally-Stone said : ‘It is a very lovely little community pre-school but it is very hard to keep it going when the numbers are so small. Realistically, financially we couldn’t make it work. If the new committee are volunteers and have different ways of staffing it, perhaps their overheads might allow them to cover it. We wish them all the best. It is a shame their Ofsted registration took so long to come through, as we had intended to hand over after the summer holidays.’