A NEW era began for Busy Bees Pre-School in Ledbury last week, when the youngsters moved into a new base called The Hive, at the town’s converted former youth centre.

The move is all the more amazing given that conversion work on the building, off Bye Street, only started in February.

Busy Bees manager, Emma Davis said: “It's been a difficult couple of months; but we're astonished that so much has been achieved in so little time. There is a huge list of people to thank for helping us complete this ambitious project.

“The Ledbury community has been incredibly supportive - fundraising for us, offering their time to help with the refurbishment, giving us discounts and calling in to wish us well. We recently discovered that we have been successful in our application to be a Tesco 'Bags of Life' project. The community can vote for us with a blue token from the checkout in Tesco during May and June, and we really would appreciate the continued support.”

She added: “In The Hive, we have separate areas for pre-school and our extended services which is working well. Children aged two to 11 attend and by separating the spaces, we can include age appropriate games and resources. A particularly popular feature at After School Club is our full sized pool table. The extra space is offering us enormous scope for play and learning, allowing us to set up some wonderfully creative opportunities for the children to explore, indoors and outdoors.

“Our outdoor area, which was completed by Steve Large, features different learning zones set on chipped bark, artificial grass and gravel. Children have been enjoying all aspects of this space but the mud kitchen is proving to be particularly popular. It's a great way for us to promote mathematical language, develop vocabulary and encourage taking turns and sharing. Soon, we will also have completed our Forest School area.”

Busy Bees are based downstairs at The Hive, following their move from the Ledbury Primary School site.

But the focus will be on the upper level, so that the building can become a community hub as well.

Miss Davis said: “Our next task will be to focus on the upstairs. We see The Hive as being a community hub, accessible outside our opening hours by local groups. Once the space is available, we'll be publicising details.”

Further details on 01531 634556.