A CHILDCARE centre near Selby has thanked a local charity for a makeover worth thousands of pounds.

The Thorpe Willoughby Childcare Centre looks after about 200 children each week, many with learning difficulties or disabilities.

Thanks to the work of Selby Hands Of Hope (SHOH), the centre has now been fitted with new windows, doors, ceilings and floors, heating, furniture and toys for the children.

Wendy Singh, founder of SHOH, said: “This is the best thing, I think, we’ve done by a long way and that’s down to the volunteers and everyone who came down and helped. It was unbelievable. The community all came together. People came down to give food to the volunteers and the whole village got behind it. It totally humbled me, it really did.”

Volunteers, including local builders, donated materials, time and expertise for up to two weeks to help transform the centre, with the charity picking up the remaining costs, thought to total about £10,000.

Wendy said that regardless of the cost, the work of everyone involved was reward in itself, and hoped the children who were unable to make the grand unveiling by charity supporter Tommy Cannon – one half of comedy duo Cannon and Ball – on Saturday would enjoy their new look centre.

She said: “It’s brilliant when people do things like that for nothing. You just step back and you think ‘this is why we do what we do’.

“The children who were there on Saturday were just open-mouthed. They said it was more than they could ever dream of. We wanted to prolong the life of the building, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Rachel Lindley, chairman of the centre’s management committee, said: “We would like to thank Wendy and Selby Hands Of Hope for the refurbishment of Thorpe Willoughby Childcare Centre.

“The team of people who worked together to achieve this amazing result worked above and beyond and there will be many happy memories made in the new surroundings. We can’t wait for the children to start enjoying their new things.”