A WORKINGTON nursery has reached a new milestone for the years of service it's provided to the community.

Learning Land nursery on Derwent Street is celebrating it's 17th birthday.

The nursery was opened by Hilary McCarron, of Lodge Close, Great Clifton, in 2004.

Hilary said: "It feels absolutely amazing to be celebrating 17 years. However it doesn’t feel like that long ago as I remember the first day as if it was yesterday. I was terrified."

To the shock and awe of many residents Learning Land remained open through-out lockdown.

The nursery only closed for two weeks and then reopened with four other staff as the Early Years Hub who cared for the children of the key workers helped support them as they continued their work.

The staff members were Kirsty, Kiana, Ellie and Sonia who all returned to work during the height of the pandemic.

Hilary said: "It was their personal choice to return during that difficult period which was very frightening for us all.

"We all felt very privileged to do this however, as we were easing the pressure off the parents as they worked through the pandemic. We had new children from other settings, some of which stayed with us so this made us very proud."

Hilary added:

"All of our regular children returned as soon as the restrictions were lifted and we were soon as busy as ever before."

The ensuing pandemic had a massive effect on the daily running of the nursery. Hilary said: "We had to look at our policies, procedures and risk assessments and change or add to them as needed to keep the children, parents and staff as safe as possible.

"Cleaning regimes were very important to keep the setting as hygienic as possible."

Today the pandemic's effect on the nursery has lessened as the staff have learnt to work with the procedures put in place earlier last year.

Hilary said: "The only thing that still isn’t as it was is us having an open door policy where parents can take their children to their particular room and hand them over to their key person and collect them from them. Hopefully this will happen again soon."

Hilary remains dedicated to her nursery, she said: "I love my job very much and feel very passionate about it. I am very privileged to be able to fulfil my dream of owning my own nursery."

Hilary hopes that the nursery will be open another 17 years carrying the excellent reputation they have always had.