New Pre School Building

The summer holidays of 2007 saw work begin for the arrival of our new building. Planning was in place, drawings were prepared. In order to create a space large enough for our new building in the grounds of Win ford Primary School, a toilet block needed to be moved to a new position. This meant that trees had to be felled and groundwork done, sometime before the building could even arrive.

The first thing to happen was a large mess. A digger came in and helped prepare the ground plot for the existing school toilet block to be moved into.

You can see photographs of the whole process in New Building Pictures.

Moving The Toilet Block

On August 8th, the exciting stuff started. A crane arrived for the first stage and moved the toilet block into it’s new position. There were some concerns, as the building is quite old, and the contractors were not sure if it would survive the lift. A couple of hours went by as the crane crew decided how best to lift it. The way they wanted to lift it - with beams - proved to be impossible, as there was no way to get the beams under the building. Or back out! So it was decide to lift the toilet block using boat slings. Even this was a risk, as the slings could have crushed the building but, in the end, the building did not even creak!!

The New Building Arrives

August 21st - the big day. Our new building, an Elliot portable classroom, was donated by North Somerset Council and had to be moved from it’s existing site in Backwell. The building was dismantled in five sections and transported on trucks to the grounds of Winford Primary School.

Already behind by a week, the first attempt to deliver the building had been cancelled due to strong winds. This time, it was all systems go.

The day began at around 7am, when some villagers temporarily had their power cut off, whilst an over head power cable was disconnected to allow enough clearance for the crane to lift the building from the delivery trucks. Most households had their power restored within an hour but a small number of houses were supplied using a generator.

With the crane moved into place and it’s supports down, we awaited the arrival of the first part of the building. Parsonage Lane had to be closed for the work, as the crane was sitting in the middle of the road, and the trucks carrying the sections of the building would block it whilst they were unloaded. Road closure signs were put at both ends of the road, but this did not stop a few people driving through them anyway and getting rather cross when they found the road blocked. All the workmen thought that was rather funny!

Lifting each section into position was surprisingly quick - about ten minutes to get up off the truck, over the hedge and down again. The first and second bits were in place by the time the pre-school children arrived to welcome their new home.

The event was recorded by members of the press, including a reporter from BBC Points West who filmed the building work, the children, and interviewed some parents and staff. We were also visited by the Bristol Evening Post and the Chew Valley Gazette, so just for the day, we were famous.

The whole day went really well, and all five pieces were safely in position by 2pm. We still can’t quite believe its here!!

NOT FINISHED YET!

It was so exciting to see the building finally in its new home, it was a struggle to remember that we still could not use it. What we had in front of us was a shell that needed masses of work doing to it before we could move in. It was difficult to believe that it could ever be finished it time for the start of term in September.

Incredibly, just one week later, the place was transformed. It had a little garden out the front, and inside it could not have beed more different. All the wooden struts that had been put in to stop the sections from twisting when they were moved had gone. The walls that we wanted had gone up, and a kitchen had appeared. Another week on and there were less builders tools and more of our things appearing - a massive cupboard, carpet, french doors into the garden and a beautiful floor to ceiling window that looks down onto the school pond. In just 4 weeks, the work was all but finished, with just a few small things needing a tweek. But, predictably, we did not move in time for the start of the new term in September. The building may have been ready, but the paperwork wasn’t. So we sat back and waited for all the various inspections to take place. It was enormously frustrating to see our lovely new building ready and waiting for us, and not be able to use it. But patience is a virtue.

HOME AT LAST!!!!

The 1st November saw some very excited children and parents wating outside the New Building. During half term, volunteers had been working hard moving all our stuff out of the Village Hall and into our very own classroom. Now, at long last, it was ready, and the children could see thier new home for the first time.

It was, as you would expect, somewhat chaotic. The Novelty of the new building lasted about 5 minutes for the children, quickly overtaken by the excitement of seeing their friends and the play dough. The parents, some of whom had not yet been inside, were thrilled with the new facilities, confused by the fact that things were now in different places and most of all delighted to share Mrs Wendy’s obvious joy at starting a new page in the pre-school’s history.

IT’S OFFICIAL

The only thing left to do now was make it official by having a party. The date was set for Friday Novemeber 16th (before the BBC announced this was also the date for Children in Need). The invitations were sent and our local MP Dr Liam Fox was confirmed as our guest of honour who would cut the ribbon.

We took over the School Hall for the morning, and parents past and present, donors and local VIPs gathered for our big moment…which true to form, happened a bit late, with our smart new sign being attached to the building with minutes to spare. Due to traffic on the M4, Dr Fox arrived a little later than planned, and we had to rush through things a little in order to give the school hall back in time for lunch. But we did it. The ribbon was cut, speeches were made and the children delighted in showing all our guests around the new building. It was a wonderful moment for all of us who have worked to get us here, and we all heaved a collective sigh if relief as we stepped back at last to let the staff get on with running the pre-school.

The Fundraising Continues…

The total we have raised so far was enough to get the empty building into position and fitted out. Although the building is now finished and in use, we have not finished paying for it.

We still have to raise the outstanding balance of our fundraising thermometer to fulfill all our financial obligations.

Why We Needed A New Home

The Pre-school had been situated in Win ford Village Hall since 1987. We are very grateful for the use of this vital
village amenity, however increasing demand and changing government and OFSTED requirements made the move to our new
building a necessity.

Our new building, is situated within Winford Primary School grounds, will benefit the Pre-school children and
Win ford Village enormously.

• Increased number of child spaces

• Longer opening hours and additional sessions
• Aligned drop off times for parents with children already at school, cutting down on repeated journeys
• Purpose built child-friendly facilities
• Lots of display space for children to show their work
• Increased safety due to being on school grounds
• Disabled access and a disabled toilet
• Much needed outdoor play area
• Easier transition from Pre-school to school for the children
• Ability to meet imminent Government and OFSTED requirements.
• Increased availability of Village Hall to other groups due to us no longer using it
• Increased desirability of village properties due to increased standard of schooling facilities