By Michelle Cline
The Hawkinge Toddler group has been running over 10 years, providing a service from the Village Hall before moving to the Community Centre when it was opened.

The group has seen a few changes of staffing and is run purely by volunteers but the longest running team are the current ones made up of Michelle Cline, Sam Dew and Amanda Norris who have run the group for 5 years.

They have worked tirelessly to change the atmosphere of the group, making it a welcoming environment for all and organising events within the group and outside including supporting the Hawkinge Fun Day in 2007.

The group is made up of a good mixture of people and our reputation has meant that service users come from as far as Dymchurch and villages outside Dover to take advantage of the facility.

We offer fresh fruit, vegetables and cheese etc for snack time and encourage children to sit and socialise during snack time and also organise arts and crafts every week, from making cards for Easter, Mothers and Fathers day and Christmas, to making decorations, daffodils, sunny day pictures etc and have the use of over £5,000 of toys and equipment that the children enjoy.

We offer a reduced price entry for Childminders and welcome all parents/grandparents/carers to attend with pre-school children and babies.

Prices are: Free for under 1's, £2 per child and £1 for subsequent siblings.

Unfortunately, in July, the current volunteer team will be finishing and despite our best efforts, have not found any willing volunteers to continue to run the group, therefore it was facing closure.

However, following a discussion with Colin Tearle, Centre Manager, it was agreed that the Community Centre would take over running of this much needed and utilised community service but will run the service 52 weeks a year and on Tuesdays and during school holidays, will offer additional facilities within the Sports Hall for older siblings to attend so as the Toddlers can still attend their regular session.

This is a fantastic solution to the group's problem with closure and we all fully support the change and Michelle, Sam and Amanda will be providing full training to Centre staff to enable them to confidently take over this service and keep it running to their high standards.

Michelle, Sam and Amanda would like to take this opportunity to thank our group for their support over the last 5 years and the help provided to keep our group running, its been much appreciated and we have really enjoyed ourselves.

© Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 201000