A brief history of Christow Pre-School

Christow Pre-School has been running for more than 30 years and has its roots in a playgroup that was first established in Bridford, but which moved into School House in Christow in 1971. This building, the legacy of a voluntary trust set up for educational purposes in the village, was the residence of the Headmaster of Christow School in the 1960s. From 1971 to 2002 it housed the Pre-School as well as other voluntary groups in the valley. The Pre-School paid one shilling's rent for use of the building over 10 years.

During our time in School House, Pre-School leaders included Mrs V. Wigmore (1971-75), Janet Dance (1975-88), Jan Williamson (1988-91), Jackie Tucker  (1991-96) and Viv Lygo (1996-2002). Since 1979, Pauline Willshire has been the Pre-School Assistant and a meal-time assistant at Christow School. She thus provides a wonderful point of continuity for the children, meeting them when they are three years old and seeing them through Pre-School and School until they leave at the age of eleven.

The Move to Clampitt Classroom

In 2002, Pre-School had to move from School House. The major redevelopment of Christow Primary School was nearing completion and Pre School was offered use of what had been Hedgemoor Classroom. Both the Pre-School Committee and the School felt that the time was right for us to move onto the school site as this would give us the opportunity to further strengthen our close links with the School. We would also be housed in a purpose-built building for early years education. However, the classroom required major refurbishment and, because we are a voluntary organisation, we were not eligible to receive local statutory support to this end.

We therefore embarked on a major fundraising campaign in order to create a fully-equipped, safe, stimulating and tailor-made environment for early years education as well as a resource that can be used outside pre-school session times for a range of groups providing services for local children.

Thanks to our supporters

The Pre-School has benefitted from very generous support to fund the move to our new premises. By Autumn 2002, donations have been received from the Townsend Charitable Trust, Awards for All, the Lloyds/TSB Foundation, the Norman Family Charitable Trust, the Northcott Devon Foundation, Gemini Radio and Galt Education.

The Townsend Charitable Trust has been the main donor to the project. The Trust was set up in 1990 by Keith Mackay, the Chairman of James Townsend & Sons Ltd, to make donations to local Exeter charities whose aims are to help fund the promotion of health and education. James Townsend established his printing firm in Exeter in 1866. Some of his early work involved the printing of hymn and prayer books in African languages for use by his uncle who was a missionary. James' sons inherited the business and became specialists in printing labels for dispensing chemist shops. At one time, around half of the nation's medicine labels were produced in Exeter.

Wilfred Townsend was the last of James' sons to work in the family business and, up to his death, aged 90, in 1982, he was still going to the office two mornings a week. In the 1980s and 1990s, the business grew to become one the UK's foremost specialist label printers, supplying labels for many of the well-known branded food and drink products. In most trips to the supermarket, we buy products with Townsend labels on them.

Over recent years, the ownership of the company had become very widely spread amongst the descendants of the Townsend family and others. Therefore in April 2002 a decision was taken to sell it to a holding company. It has always been the wish of Keith Mackay, the founder of the Townsend Charitable Trust, that should the company be sold, the proceeds from the sale of the shares held by the Trust should be distributed to local charities who benefit those seeking help in the areas of health and education. Christow Pre-School has been a major beneficiary of this legacy.

Thanks to the generous donations we have received, we carried out major refurbishment work over the summer of 2002. Our thanks must also go to MB Building Services who were employed to renovate Clampitt Classroom and who have done a brilliant job in transforming a dowdy room into a bright and welcoming environment for our children. Due to the builders' speed and efficiency, we were open for business at the beginning of Autumn Term, 2002.