A SPECIAL diamond Jubilee party being held in Whitchurch next week will raise desperately needed funds for one of the village's pre-school groups.

Whitchurch Pre-school was established 42 years ago by parent volunteers and has continued to be run as a charitable organisation by a parent-led committee.

The current setting is a second-hand portable cabin which was originally meant to be temporary — but more than 15 years later it is still the accommodation that supports the group's high standard of pre-school education.

The pre-school has obtained good results from Ofsted and is very popular with the local community, especially Tiddybrook and Bishopsmead. It is a feeder into Whitchurch Primary School and rents the land on the school site.

Becky Rankin, of Whitchurch Pre-School, said: 'A lot of our children get places at Whitchurch primary and, therefore, this makes for a natural and familiar move to the next stage of learning.

'The drawback we have is the premises we are currently inhabiting. The pre-school faces a constant battle of fire-fighting the barrage of structural problems that keep arising.'

The building has single-glazed windows with old wooden frames, full of large holes. The flooring is thin and the roof insulation is inadequate. There is no cavity wall insulation and the pipework is old and fragile, suffering frequent water leaks.

Becky said: 'The harsh winter of 2010 forced the pre-school to close for a couple of sessions, as the temperature in the building was unable to reach above ten degrees, despite our new heating system being on at full capacity, extra portable heaters and a hot air blower.'

Becky said the heat escaped easily through the building, despite some secondary double glazing — magnetic polycarbon sheets attached to current window frames which were funded by Western Power and county councillor Debo Sellis.

This helped with last winter's milder weather, but was a medium-term plan.

Becky said: 'The long term plan is to renovate the building to make it more energy-efficient by cedar cladding, reducing the casements of windows and replacing them with double glazing, increasing the roof insulation, supporting any floorboards that need maintaining, and replacing the main front door.'

Becky said the pre-school had been fortunate enough to have support from Section 106 funding from Redrow, developers of the Tiddybrook estate, and were in the final stages of securing £12,500. She added: 'The Tavistock Lions and Cllr Sellis have also helped with another £1,100 but the pre-school still needs to raise £15,400 before next summer.

'The jubilee party that is being organised on Tiddybrook Meadows Green is going to be another fundraiser for the building project.'

Becky said the pre-school is hoping for a bumper turnout at the party, which runs from 3pm until 6pm on Sunday, June 3.

There will be a barbecue and jubilee cakes on sale with all proceeds going to the pre-school building fund. Tavistock Round Table will be supporting the event with their delicious bacon baps and sausages.

All are welcome to come along, bring a picnic and share the fun.