Children 1^st @ Shepshed say goodbye to an old friend

The landscape at Children 1^st @ Shepshed will change forever next Tuesday, leading to some moving memories and fond farewells for the nursery children and local residents of Shepshed.

The nursery, built in 1694 is now in its fourth century, and in its garden sits a majestic Copper Beech tree, which is over 200 years old and 75 feet high.

This beautiful tree has been enjoyed in the garden by generations of children, and is also home to a number of historical engravings which have been carved into the trunk over decades. However, a recent site survey and ultrasound scan revealed the tree is suffering from Bracket Fungus, an incurable, degenerative fungal infection from which the tree will slowly die, becoming dangerous as time goes on. Given the tree’s proximity to neighbouring properties and of course the nursery children, it will pose a grave safety risk and must be removed.

Margaret Mason, owner of Children 1^st Nurseries was devastated to hear the news, but despite experts being called in to give second opinions, the conclusion remains the same.

The children at the nursery are preparing to say goodbye to their beloved tree by listening to stories from local people, such as the lady who called by the nursery one day to see if the love heart she etched 50 years ago was still there.

The trunk of the tree containing the historical etchings will remain, and as time goes on this will be preserved so generations more can read the words and wonder who wrote them.

The tree will be removed on Tuesday 21^st and Wednesday 22^nd May 2013. Come back to see how it happened!

Well what fantastic fun we all had on Saturday at the Children 1st @ Derby Road Spring Fayre!

The April showers did not keep people away from this very special annual event, in fact, it seemed to bring more people in through the doors! Hundreds of excited children, their families and friends joined us from the minute the gates were opened at 11am. Lots of people had seen our signs, flyers and advertisements as we had some faces we hadn’t seen before in the Nursery. The full photo gallery can be found here.

Peppa Pig made an appearance and had her picture taken with lots of boys and girls, and even a firefighter!

The Long Eaton Militaires played for us in the car park, lots of people came in off the street to listen to the songs they played, from Abba to Bruno Mars!

The crew from Long Eaton Fire Station joined us and the firefighters talked to the children about the fire engine and all parts on it. The children (and some very lucky parents!) got to have a sit down in the back of the truck and wear a firefighter's hat.

The cake stall was very successful and we managed to sell every single last one, we would like to thank all the kind parents, grandparents, friends and staff members that baked for us.

The tombola was also a complete sell out and over 250 items were won, donated by family and friends of Children 1st @ Derby Road.

500 raffle tickets were sold and there were 20 prizes to won, prizes included vouchers for Altered Images, chocolate hampers, photo shoots at Max Spielmann and prints, and many many more.

Staff in the kitchen were kept very busy as all of the burgers and sausages donated to us from Tesco sold out. Eighty sausages and eighty burgers were enjoyed by our hungry guests!

All of the activity stalls were popular with the children, "straws in the sand, Treasure Island" was won by Noah Sawford (well done Noah!), the prize was a brilliant treasure chest cake that Sarah Mellors made, thank you. Well done to Tyler Gouldson who guessed 579 and won "how many sweets in the jar",  we hope you enjoy them!

Tin can alley winner was Charlie Gardener, well done you knocked over the most tin cans.

The joint winners of 2 prizes on the Quiz were Alyssa-Mae Brooks & Leo Caple.

The face painting was also very popular and Miss Katie did some brilliantly colourful artwork featuring lots of different animals and super heroes on lots of smiling faces.

The bouncy castle kept the staff busy through rain and shine, the children kept jumping and bouncing; the staff enjoyed helping the children and had a good old bounce as well.

Thank you to Adam and Ben of A2B designers Ltd, who helped us by designing and printing the leaflets, and organising the donations from Tesco and the fire service.

We would like to thank all of the staff, parents, grandparents and anyone else who helped us at our Spring Fayre. Because of all of your support we are so proud to announce the amount we raised………

£752.20

Thank you for all your generous donations and support, all money raised goes to Rainbows Children's Hospice.

We look forward to seeing you all again next year!

Click here to see our photo gallery!

The children in the Tiggywinkles at Children 1st @ Derby Rd have been spending lots of time in the garden. They have planted lots of seeds, flowers and plants in the large planters in the garden and spent time turning the soil over and watering the area.

The staff and children didn’t want the birds eating the seeds so decided to make mini scarecrows to help try and save them.

All of children designed a scarecrow on a stick and then placed it around the edge of the planters.

Finally a net was placed over the top to protect from squirrels and birds, and maybe a ball or a curious child...

Miss Megan, Miss Katie and the Tiggywinkles have all discussed that if the seeds, flowers and plants are cared, looked after and protected then they will grow and make the Nursery garden look even more beautiful than it already does!

Every day the children water and check on their seeds, and are patiently waiting for them to grow, they can't wait to see our little seeds turn into lovely big flowers!

Come back to see how much our little seeds have grown!

Join Children 1st @ Derby Road for our exciting Spring Fayre!

Our annual Spring Fayre will be held this Saturday on 4th May in aid of Rainbow's Children's Hospice.

We will be having lots of fun with stalls, games and activities, with special appearances from our local Fire Station, the Long Eaton Militaires and Peppa Pig!

There's something for everyone and every penny raised goes to Rainbows Children's Hospice.

Entrance is 50p for adults, children are free.

Please come and have fun at our Outstanding Nursery, and help us raise some money for this fantastic cause.