BLUNSDON nursery school is to close its doors next month after 52 years serving the community.

The nursery, based in Blunsdon Village Hall, will shut on July 19 when current owner Pauline Webster retires.

Pauline, who has run the nursery for 27 years, made the decision to shut when a suitable provider could not be found before she retired.

“It is completely regrettable and it’s not what I wanted but it has come to the time where I had to make a decision because I was retiring,” said Pauline.

Blunsdon Nursery School currently cares for around 18 children, and opens three hours a day, five days a week.

“It has been difficult to find a provider who will take on a nursery where you have to pack away the equipment at the end of the day and set it up again in the morning and that is where we’re struggling," Pauline said.

“The staff here are exceptional and they have secured new jobs which had been a worry of mine. Also the parents in Blunsdon are so wonderful, I didn’t want to leave them in the lurch but it got to the stage where I had to do it. I am still hopeful that we will find someone.”

Blunsdon resident Dave Judd, whose four-year-old daughter Ellie has been going to the nursery for a year, said the closure was a loss to the community as well as families.

“It’s a lovely place and Ellie really enjoys going there, which is why it is such a shame it will be closing,” the 50-year-old marketing manager said

“It’s sad that no-one has come to take it over, the ladies there are so lovely. I know from being friends with a lot of the parents there that it’s something a lot of them rely on so much for childcare. I don’t know how close another nursery is.”

Blunsdon Parish Council, who owns the building are confident they will be able to find a replacement nursery provider.

Tracey Judd, parish clerk at Blunsdon Parish Council said: “We are currently working with some interested parties and we are very confident that we will have discovered a new provider by the time term starts again in September."

It is now Swindon Borough Council’s responsibility to try and find a new provider to run a nursery from the village hall

A spokesman said: “Swindon Borough Council has been informed by Blunsdon Nursery that the business is to cease and that the nursery will not be providing places from September.

“The council will work closely with Blunsdon Parish Council, which owns the building from which the current nursery operates, to identify a new provider to supply nursery places locally from September onwards.”