Bretton balloon's Dutch landing

Manager Kirstien Lipscombe couldn’t believe it when she received an email asking where Bretton was after the balloon travelled thousands of miles to far off Western Europe.

She said: “We received a call from Dogsthorpe and thought that was the furthest. But then we had an email from the Netherlands. At first I thought it was a wind-up. Now we know it’s true we are going to do something with the children about how far it went on its travels.”

The balloon release was part of a special party at the preschool in Watergall, Bretton to make the milestone birthday.

New Ark farm educational mobile farm in Thurleigh, Bedfordshire brought animals for the children to pet including hedgehogs, puppies, guinea pigs and rabbits and also gave the children pony rides. There was face painting, a bouncy castle and a buffet. One of the pre-school committee members made a special cake.

Kirstien, who has been manager for 16 years, and oversaw the pre-school’s move from the Pyramid Centre to its new home in Watergall 10 years ago, added: “It was a really lovely day. The children had lots of fun and so did the adults. We invited Sue Pitcher to come along who was the headteacher of Watergall School and really encouraged our move here. We also invited past chairmen of our committee. We are a charity run by a group of parents and volunteers and we really wanted to celebrate our success over the years and create a fun experience for our children.”

Bretton Community Pre-School has 80 children aged two to four on roll. For more details call 01733 332344 or visit www.brettoncommunitypreschool.co.uk.