YEARS of fundraising for a major refurbishment have paid off at last for supporters of an Oxfordshire nursery.

Little Owls Nursery has been based for the last 15 years at a Great Milton building which was originally built as a sports pavilion.

Now, after securing a £40,000 grant from Oxfordshire County Council, the nursery has enough money to go ahead with an internal refurbishment of the pavilion to make it more suitable for the children who go there.

Nursery chairman Dr Emily Johns, whose three children have all been to the nursery and whose daughter, Polly, three, is still a pupil, said she believed children would really feel the difference.

She said: “We’re delighted to hear that we have got the money and it’s really nice to know all the fundraising efforts of parents, children and staff have been recognised.”

The nursery raised £32,400 in match funding with events, including Christmas fetes, nearly new sales and a buy a brick campaign which saw parents sponsor bricks for £5 each.

The planned work will provide the pavilion with disabled access, new toilet faciltiies, wash rooms, baby changing rooms and child-friendly toilets, as well as a dedicated storage area for the nursery and a staff room.

The pavilion is used by a number of groups and fundraising is continuing for external improvements such as work on the roof, windows and doors.

This first phase of work has been funded by the nursery and is mostly for their benefit, but will help accommodate other users too.

Dr Johns said: “This work is extremely key.

“We’ve got about 30 children on our books aged between two and five and at the moment.

“They are using outdated facilites, and if we were asked to take on disabled children we just couldn’t accommodate them, so this is really important.”

Work is expected to start at the end of July, after the nursery term finishes, and will take about seven weeks.

Dr Johns said: “The timing is perfect because we can work around our nursery terms.

“Raising £70,000 or more for a project of this size is beyond the reach of most nurseries or small organisations.

“It would not have been possible without funding from the council.”