Sidley's £650,000 rainbow

In the presence of the High Sheriff of Sussex, Julian Avery, and his wife Quenelda, Town Mayor Cllr Stuart Earl unveiled a plaque marking the opening of the state-of-the-art 650,000 Rainbow Childcare Centre at Sidley House.

Children in the 30-place centre were listening to stories, enjoying the centre's play equipment and icing biscuits as a succession of visitors toured rooms dedicated to each of the centre's three age groups.

Outside, a sunny but securely-enclosed playground covered by CCTV cameras offered the prospect of outdoor fun.

Back in the community centre, a photo-display traced childcare at Sidley House back four decades.

Sidley Community Association chairman John Izzard put the new centre in context for guests. "I would like to honour all those who struggled to offer childcare opportunities for Sidley families from the early '60s."

Despite working in primitive conditions, they had kept hopes alive of better things to come.

"At the end it was a question of where we would put the buckets so we could catch the water that was coming through the roof...."

To them Sidley owed its thanks for their efforts led directly to the creation of the new centre.

Thanks also went to Sure Start and the Early Years Childcare and Development Partnership for granting the money, to Rother council for taking the project under its wing and so saving the need to pay 17.55 VAT on top of building costs.

He thanked Little Common architect Nigel Faulkner for his design and builders J.H. Payne and Sons for their skills and the team who between Christmas and its January opening prepared the centre for the children.

In Cllr Earl, he said, the community had a representative who understood the spirit of Sidley.