The oldest pre-school in Chippenham celebrated its 50th anniversary at the weekend.

Pewsham Preschool has been going so long that some of its staff attended as toddlers themselves.

Supervisor Janet Croft, whose own mum was a helper when she attended 40 years ago, joined the celebrations on Saturday, releasing balloons along with current pupils and those now at King’s Lodge Primary. They also had a picnic and nature trail and built dens.

Mrs Croft, 43, of Pewsham, said: “My son and daughter both went there, that’s how I got involved. It’s a bit of a coincidence I ended up working for the nursery I’d been to myself.”

The pre-school began life in May 1963 as St Andrew’s Playgroup, run from the parish hall. At the time, the nearest nursery was in Bristol.

It moved to Pewsham community hall in 1995, not long after the first phase of Pewsham estate was completed.

Just eight children attended when it first opened but now there is a waiting list of two years for the nursery, which has 59 children aged two to four on its books.

The playgroup received a letter of goodwill from Princess Diana when it celebrated its 21st anniversary at St Andrew’s Church Hall in 1984.

Twenty years later, the search was on for a new premises with more space.

Chairman Verity John said: “The baby group on Mondays at the hall prevented sessions from being run on that day and the staff and children were keen to be able to keep ongoing projects out and not to have to put everything away at the end of each session.

"After a lot of work, the playgroup bought and moved into the mobile classroom on Kings Lodge School site in 2004.”

Pewsham Preschool was rated as Good by Ofsted in May 2012 and holds the Bristol standard quality improvement for birth to five certificate.

The nursery is looking for new committee members. Anyone interested should call (01249) 461017.