Charity nursery which faced closure celebrates milestone

A charity nursery in Shropshire which faced closure just three years ago has now celebrated its 30th anniversary by raising thousands of pounds for a local cause and has a continually growing waiting list.

Caterpillars Childcare, based in Shifnal, was saved from closure by a former parent who sent their child there and stepped in to provide new premises at Apley Estate.

Graeme Manton, estate director, refurbished a former furniture showroom which allowed Caterpillars to continue when their former base could no longer accommodate them in 2021.

And now they’ve marked their third decade by raising £3,000 for Ava’s Angels, a charity set up in memory of a three-year-old who sadly passed away from a virus a few years ago, and whose siblings currently attend Caterpillars.

Nursery Director Angie White said: “It is wonderful to celebrate the 30 years milestone, we did not think this was going to be possible three years ago but it is wonderful to reach this.

“I have probably looked after around 2,000 children myself in my time here and it is so great to see those children grow up and now we look after some of their children too!

“We have a really well established reputation, and as a charity we always want to invest back in the nursery with high quality resources, trips and a good ratio of children to staff. “We also didn’t just want our anniversary to be about us, we wanted to make a difference to those who need it and Ava’s Angels is a wonderful cause. “We are very proud of the work we’ve done and now have a growing waiting list of children who want to join too!”

The nursery initially launched as a play group known as Worfield Caterpillars by a group of parents and Angie first went as a volunteer 26 years ago while working in media sales. She then retrained and became manager, then director.

They have now received four consecutive outstanding ratings from Ofsted and have seven staff, with 40 children currently enrolled.

Since moving to the dedicated site at Cotsbrook, just off the A442, they have been able to expand their offering - with pre-school and nursery rooms downstairs and a baby room upstairs, along with a dedicated car park and longer opening hours, both each day and no longer just during term time.

Angie added: “Apley invested so much in us and we’re so grateful - we now have everything we would need to operate, all the equipment, and more. “Not only were we saved from closure, but landing this site and celebrating 30 years of our charity nursery is a dream come true for all of us.”

The anniversary celebrations included a summer party for all current parents and children and then a fundraising ball, held at Stockton House, Apley’s award winning wedding venue, for current and former parents in September.

The ball included a promise auction and raised £3,000 for Ava’s Angels. The charity was set up by Phill and Helen Akers, whose daughter Ava had to be medically transferred back to the UK after falling ill while on holiday in the Maldives in 2017. She had contracted the extremely rare virus Epstein-Barr Virus Encephalitis, a form of glandular fever, and spent four months in a coma at Birmingham Children’s Hospital before she passed away at home.

The charity raises money for the provisions needed when a child is in hospital, such as educational support for siblings, food hampers, hotel stays near a hospital and more.