Flooded childcare providers re-open thanks to local support
Laura Marcus
Friday, January 15, 2016
A nursery in West Yorkshire and a childminder in Greater Manchester are operating from temporary premises after severe flooding.
The floods left the lower ground floor of Waters Edge Children’s Nursery under five feet of water and also destroyed the ground floor of childminders Charlotte and Dominic Melia’s home in Bury.
Parents, neighbours, friends, and even retired firemen from the Tunnel 2 Towers Foundation have stepped in to help.
Both providers say that without support from their local community and childcare networks they would not be open.
The Melias, who run Woodlands Childcare, have been forced to move into a rental property with significant effect on their ‘outstanding’ childminding business.
Unable to move back into their home for six months to a year, Dominic must now supervise the refurbishment while Charlotte continues to run the business on her own, meaning a cut to the number of places they can offer, and consequently a loss in income.
The childminders were on holiday at Butlins over Christmas when the floods hit, meaning almost all their personal possessions were lost.
Good friends of the couple waded waist-deep into the house to rescue a few special items, including baby photos of their children.
Charlotte told Nursery World, ‘We’ve had to move out of our home. Our first battle was trying to make our rented accommodation safe for us to work from. We’ve been able to re-open but had to give three children notice, as Dominic now has to supervise the house recovery so can’t childmind in the daytime.’
‘Our local Early Years Hub has really helped us, they all pulled together and have helped with resources and maintenance work.
‘We had nothing, as we lost all our belongings, and the new property is unfurnished. It’s start again, with donated furniture - we lost the fridge, freezer, washing machine, dryer, everything.
“One nursery got the garden safe for us and provided crucial equipment, like toy stacking systems. It’s been amazing to have the support, but we’re just planning each day as it comes at the moment.’
Friends of the Melias, including other childminders, have managed to raise £1,240 for the couple on GoFundMe.com.
To the rescue
The children at Waters Edge Children’s Nursery in Calderdale met the volunteer firemen from the Tunnel 2 Towers Foundation, who helped rip out the damaged floor and walls from the nursery classroom following the Boxing Day floods.
Nursery managers Carl and Kelly Heavyside are now working out of the first floor of the building, which normally operates a play gym and café.
Carl told Nursery World, ‘We are Waters Edge because we are next to the canal. And when the water came, the canal became the river, it all merged into one.
‘We obviously tried to get to the nursery, but the road was closed already, as soon as we arrived we couldn’t do anything and just watched the water rising and rising.’
‘The water rose five and a half foot on our lower ground floor where the nursery is located. We’ve temporarily closed our play gym and café to make this floor our classroom. We’ve also got a porta-classroom outside and are running our baby unit out of an ex-parent’s business down the road.
‘The firemen were here for a few days ripping out the contaminated floors and walls. It was amazing because it saved the builders a couple of days’ work. Our local Ikea in Burstall also donated us new furniture, putting a tent outside the nursery to erect it all. They even took the firemen for a free meal at their canteen.’
- The Melia’s fundraising page is at https://www.gofundme.com/gygg8s84