Beechwood Private Nursery School celebrated their 30th birthday on Wednesday 9th April and past and current employees, parents and children marked the occasion with a party featuring canapés, drinks and every child at Beechwood was given a balloon to take home.
Everyone at the party had an entertaining time and reflected on their time at Beechwood.
When Beechwood first opened on the 9th April 1984, it was one of the first nurseries to open in Bolton. The founders recognised the need for a good quality nursery for parents. The original owners have moved on, and the current owners of the nursery are Angie and Frank Whitaker, but Jackie Oakes is the manager in charge.
Jackie says there have been many memorable moments and changes over the past 30 years, and it would be difficult to pick out just one. She says she is very proud that their philosophy of providing a safe, homely environment for children hasn’t changed for 30 years and underpins everything they do.
Jackie celebrates her 26th year of working at Beechwood on the 26th June. She began working at Beechwood aged 16 as part of the youth training scheme and worked her way up the company to her current position as manager, a role she’s held for the past 12 years. Other members of staff have worked at Beechwood for many years, and the “newest” member of staff has worked at Beechwood for 6 years.
Jackie is finding that many of the infants she looked after as youngsters are now returning to the nursery as parents themselves, which is something she is incredibly proud of. “They all had such a good time here and now want their children to have the same experience, which is lovely, although it does make me feel old!”
Many of the parents have become close friends, not just customers.
The nursery itself has increased in size too, as a conservatory was built for the new baby room and the kitchen was extended to accommodate the increase in numbers of children attending. Beechwood has space for up to 60 children and demand for places is always high.
“We have had to adapt to fit parent’s needs” says Jackie. “When we first opened we had four staff, opened at 8am and had babies as young as 6 weeks old and now we have 14 staff, open at 7am and our youngest children are around 9 months old. Because of the changes in maternity leave for mums over the years, we are finding they are waiting longer to return to work and leave their child with us.”
If you’d like your child to experience the amazing standard of care, call Beechwood on 01204 684038
