THREE hundred heads, 600 shoulders, 600 knees and 3,000 toes helped celebrate the 25th anniversary of their playgroup.

Children, teachers and former pupils from St Mary's Playgroup in Rodbourne Cheney joined in the giant birthday party yesterday.

Children from the playgroup and from St Mary's RC Primary School all took part in a giant round of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in the playground.

About 300 children joined in the song, before launching helium-filled balloons into the sky.

Nyree Kingsbury, the playgroup's committee chairwoman, said: "Each class wrote a tag to attach to the balloons and the headteacher also set one off.

"They have also had their faces painted and their feet painted so there have been lots of messy children going home."

After the fun day's play, an evening mass was held at St Mary's Church for the playgroup's older friends, with a reception at the school afterwards.

St Mary's playgroup first opened in May 1982, and pupils who were just three at the time returned to the school with their own children yesterday.

"If you were three in 1982 you would be 28 now and some of the old pupils are bringing their own children to the playgroup now," said Nyree.

"The headmaster who started it all, Noel Sturla, came along too. It was his brainchild really.

"When he started it there were just 15 people. Now we've got between 60 and 80.

"Most of the children in the school have come through the nursery."

In the early 1980s, Mr Sturla asked the school's parents if they thought they would benefit from the playgroup.

Parents had to apply to the Pre-school Learning Alliance and raise funds to pay for staff to run the toddler class in a spare classroom at St Mary's RC Primary School.

The group now has its own mobile building in the school's grounds.

The playgroup was struck by disaster in 2001 when a fire damaged their building.

The group lost all their outdoor equipment and the back of the building was destroyed.

Luckily the primary school came to the rescue, rehousing the playgroup and helping them back into their own home.

Nyree said the anniversary had been a good opportunity to see past pupils working with the younger ones.

"The older kids have been playing and looking after the little ones," she said.

"The bigger kids were reading to the playgroup, which was really sweet to see.

"The older children love to come back.

"It's amazing how many 11-year-olds we had playing in the sand box and modelling clay."