'It has not been straightforward. There was money from the Government, but it wasn't quite enough. We had to look around for funding from other sources, including our parents and staff and the chapel.
'We spent an awful lot of time filling forms for grants. We spent weeks in discussion with one large organisation, and they changed their criteria. We now have to fund-raise to meet our running costs. We built it into our business plan. It is just something we do.
'We were a sessional pre-school offering extended hours from 8am to 4pm in term-time only for three-to five-year-olds. Now we are open from 8am to 6pm all year round, bar Christmas and bank holidays, with children aged three months to five years. It has been a bit of a culture shock.
'We have an administrative officer who works mornings only in term-time.
The job has grown with her over the years. We now employ an accountant who is doing a half-day a week at the moment - something else to fund, but he has been invaluable. We were a charity under the chapel, but we are now a company limited by guarantee and are not yet registered as a charity.
'As a Neighbourhood Nursery we have to be accountable to Sure Start for the funding to prove we are meeting their criteria, the targets for parents returning to work and offering equal opportunities.
'Melksham is a small country town, but there are a number of families from different ethnic backgrounds and we have a Bengali speaker on the staff.
She came as a volunteer and is now a permanent member of the staff and is taking NVQ 3.
'Something we are having problems with is that we are having to ask parents for a lot more personal information to be able to fill in our returns for Sure Start.
'We are having to design a new registration from. I wanted to put at the bottom "You only have to fill this in if you are willing to do so". But I have been advised by Wiltshire County Council that if most parents opt out, it will make the returns null and void.
'We have to figure out which parents are working, how many hours a week people are working and whether they are lone parents. Before we knew the parents so well, you could take someone on one side and speak to them. We are seeing 120 children a week now and you cannot ask all the parents personally, so we will have to send out a form, because we have to gather this information every quarter.'
