In the mid-1970s local women were increasingly asking the playgroup for all-day care for their children while they went to work. In response to this the Children’s Centre, which included daycare alongside the playgroup, opened in 1977. By 1978 a second Children’s Centre was opened at Lawrence House nearby. A Family Centre opened in 1983, which provided families with somewhere they could ‘stay and talk, and be welcomed’, a clothing exchange, toy library and a food bank.

The Centre had an open and free approach, with an emphasis on play. Staff member Brenda Crew recalled that children ‘could choose what they wanted to do’. Judith Marchant described the centre having ‘the basic things of sand and water, bricks and time, physical activities, stories, singing.’ For Judith, ‘Play is vital. It is really important that children are allowed to play uninterrupted, to play how they think, not how they are told.’

This approach was appreciated by the children, who were interested in the found objects used for play. Judith explained how they collected what they called smells, such as an empty herb box, empty perfume bottle, soap wrapping; this was so popular the children would ask ‘Can I have the smells, give me the smells!’ The emphasis on free or ‘messy’ play was also largely seen as a positive by parents, although it did occasionally lead to complaints.  Judith recalls one parent complaining about her daughter playing with water, saying ‘Mrs Marchant, if you will insist on having water play, I will have to keep her at home’.

Diversity was another important feature of the centre, with staff member Maureen Waite remembering it as ‘a great big mixing pot, which was ideal’.

Judith Marchant managed the centre until she retired in 1995. The centre continued but closed in the early 2000s.

With thanks to Anthea Gordon for writing the first draft of this entry.