THE former owner and manager of Delabole Minis and Minors Pre-School Playgroup, Linda Hammond, says it’s an ‘end of an era’ after she held a retirement party at the Poldark Inn recently.
Linda, 62, ran the playgroup from October 31, 1988 up until their final day on July 26, but has had to close it down due to dwindling numbers, which meant that it became financially unviable, although she was looking forward to retirement anyway.
However, she organised an evening at the Poldark for anyone who had ever been involved with the playgroup, including children, parents and staff.
It ended up attracting nearly 100 people, leaving Linda delighted with how it went.
Linda said: “Before the mini minors playgroup, I worked at the Liberal Hall so it’s been 37 years of working with children in Delabole. A lot of children have gone through me and are now parents themselves and their children came there. My grandson has also gone here so it’s been a massive part of my life.
“It’s sad that it’s had to come to an end and I’m still trying to find my feet being retired, it feels a bit odd and I miss the children. However, I had a wonderful time doing it for most of my life, I really enjoyed my job and hopefully the children have happy memories of the place. But in the end we all get older and it takes a lot of energy to look after them.”
The evening itself saw a buffet as well as music from St Teath’s Adrian Davies, who played folk music on the guitar.
Gifts were made to Linda including a cake from the playgroup’s chairman, Brenda Burnard, who made cakes for a living as well as a canvas, which had some of the children’s handprints on and a poem dedicated to her.
Linda said: “It was lovely evening. It was just a good chance to say goodbye, have a celebration and a knees up. It’s like a marking point, something to remember it all by. I wanted to invite everyone, so that no babysitters were needed and everyone could have a great evening.
“It was a case of mixed emotions of happy and sad but it was great to say goodbye to an end of an era.”