Malcolm McEwan, chairman of the Dumfriesshire Private Nursery Association (DPNA), said it was formed 'to give private nurseries in this area a voice'. He said, 'With all the changes taking place, the local authority was asking for people from the private sector to sit on various committees.
In the past we have done this piecemeal, but we felt that it was time to formalise ourselves in an association.'
The DPNA, which was set up three months ago and has ten nursery members so far, has been helped by the local children's information service and the local offices of the Care Commission, which have both urged new nurseries to get in touch with it.
Mr McEwan said that while the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association (SINA) has many members in the central belt of Scotland, it had no real presence in Dumfriesshire. 'We haven't got anything innately against SINA.
It's just that it hasn't been here and we felt we had to create our own voice. Individual nurseries could have joined SINA, but that would have meant setting up our own branch and it seemed sensible to set up our own organisation.'
Meanwhile, also in Dumfriesshire, the Regional All Services Child Care Association (RASCA) now represents 17 voluntary organisations providing childcare for babies and children up to age 13.
Jane Carswell, RASCA secretary, said, 'We are essentially a networking group for community childcare providers to share good practice, lobby for the individual needs of providers and generally lend support, which is particularly important in very rural areas where sustainability is such a vital issue.'
Mrs Carswell added that some of the after-school clubs in the area are individual members of the Scottish Out-of-School Care Network as well as being in RASCA.
