The newly refurbished Lady Cathcart Centre in Buckie threw open its doors last week to welcome guests for a picnic. Monday, September 24 saw parents, youngsters and neighbours alike invited in for the chance to have a look around the refurbished nursery. The picnic also highlighted the service provided by Moray Foodbank – who supplied the food for the event – in the area. A community larder will be located at Lady Cathcart in coming months, which will allow families who need support to pick up food, including some fresh produce, donated through Moray Foodbank’s food recovery programme Speaking after the event, nursery manager Gilli hearns said she was delighted with the way the picnic had gone. She said: “The picnic was a lovely way to introduce ourselves to our neighbours and gave parents the chance to spend time with their children enjoying the activities they take part in at nursery. “We’re grateful to our neighbours for their patience during the refurbishment so this was
an ideal way to say thank you and welcome them to our new nursery.” Lindsay Welsh from Moray Foodbank added: “We were pleased to be able to supply the picnic made up with produce from our food recovery programme, where local supermarkets donate surplus goods, and introduce the community
larder to parents. It’s symptomatic of circumstances across Moray that families often do need our help to supplement their meals so to have a community larder in the Lady Cathcart building will be a comfort to those parents who can access the assistance.” It is hoped the community larder will be available in the
Lady Cathcart building by the end of the year to assist families in Buckie. The major refurbishment and upgrade programme for the Lady Cathcart, which came with a price tag of £672,000, has created a new nursery complex that was formally unveiled yesterday. It forms part of a wider
£17.5 million scheme by the SNP Scottish Government across Moray which will see an increase to 1140 hours a year eLC for three and four-yearolds, and eligible two-yearolds. The increase is being applied across Scotland. The most significant change
to council nursery provision is the flexibility of hours, which parents can use between 8am6pm in school nurseries, and sessions can be between three and 10 hours long all year round in nurseries where there is a demand for it. The roll-out of the eLC expansion will continue to be phased in until 2020 when the The Scottish Government requires the provision to be in place. Parents can now find out in which phase their postcode will become eligible for the increased hours using the postcode checker online.