CYP Now - Country childcare

Rural childcare schemes face huge challenges, from finding premises to getting funding, as Helen Gregory discovers. A group of mums in the small Derbyshire village of Hathersage were so fed up with the lack of local childcare facilities that, in the early 1990s, they embarked on a 20,000 fundraising initiative to renovate a prefabricated building and move it into the grounds of the village school.

The Peak Time Kids Club was born and, since then, parents have also bought an old canteen from a building site and moved it to the school, transforming it into a children's centre. It's still going strong, even weathering times when only two children have turned up. "We've always run at a loss," explains co-ordinator Lynn Condron, "but we do regular fundraising and somehow manage to keep going."

Things are looking good at the moment, with up to 30 children attending breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs. "It's very important for parents round here," adds Condron.

"There's nothing else in the area. It's a nice atmosphere and children get to meet friends from other villages."

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