A COMMUNITY nursery which failed to raise £90,000 for a permanent home has applied for permission to stay in its 26-year-old portable building for two more years.

Windmill Nursery in East Challow, near Wantage, has raised just over £30,000 for a new building in the past two years, but has struggled to win grants.

The 24-pupil nursery, run by a committee of village volunteers and two staff, wants to expand to meet the needs of a growing population.

With 161 new homes planned for East Challow, the village is set to grow by almost 50 per cent in the coming years.

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The nursery’s temporary portable building was due to be demolished when it came to the end of its life three years ago.

Committee chairwoman Donna Wheeler, whose three children all went to Windmill, said a bid to Oxfordshire County Council for funding was unsuccessful.

She said: “We have had so many housing estates planned, you would think maybe someone from those places could help contribute.We have asked local businesses for a small donation, we have asked councils, it is really surprising we have got hardly anything.

“In the worst case scenario, we will have to close.”

Fundraising attempts by staff and pupils have including auctioning a hubcap from a Williams F1 racing car, made in nearby Grove.

They have also joined sponsored walks and held bake sales but Mrs Wheeler said: “There is only so much you can raise with coffee and cake.”

She said the nursery was not eligible for many grants to “community groups” because it was a nursery.

The committee is now investigating a cheaper option for a new home by buying a building second hand, she said.

Windmill Nursery was created in 1986 after villagers were concerned about a lack of places for small children of parents in the area.

East Challow Parish Council member Charles Purnell said it would be “devastating” for current and future parents to lose the nursery.

Chairwoman Vanessa Lawson said: “We have supported the nursery all the way along to improve and upgrade.

“It is a village facility and new residents’ children will need to go somewhere.”

The nursery has applied to Vale of White Horse District Council for planning permission to stay in the temporary building. Officers are due to decide on the application by the new year.

Find out more at thewindmillnursery.co.uk

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