Please help save The Playbarn Out of School Care
Donation protected
Hi, I'm Zoë.
My husband Joe and I own and run The Playbarn Ltd - Out of School Care (OSC). We have put our heart and soul into building The Playbarn for the benefit of the local children, parents and community over the last ten years. Sadly, Covid has made the past two years somewhat horrific financially. We now desperately need to ask for your help to secure the future of our fantastic family business.
At The Playbarn, Joe and I have always aimed to provide fun, flexible, affordable, quality, highly valued and fabulous childcare for school-aged children and their families across the communities of Lanark, Carluke and surrounding areas. We started The Playbarn because, as parents ourselves, we struggled to find quality flexible childcare that suited our own children's interests and our needs as busy working parents. We were determined that The Playbarn would alleviate that awful feeling of working-parent guilt! So, in 2012, we set up our Playbarns (at two locations ten miles apart, servicing 20 schools over a 40-mile radius) from the perspective of parents and their children, creating a 'play-heaven' for the children of local families. We wanted to give parents and families in the local area the opportunity to work flexibly, seek employment, partake in further education/training - meeting their needs by reducing barriers, supporting shift patterns, accommodating short-notice bookings, offering flat-hourly rates, and supporting families in remote/rural communities.
We are really fearful that if we don't survive this current challenging period, there will be significant implications for many parents, families and children in the communities we serve, including our Playbarn family of 12 excellent, dedicated staff.
The last two years have almost brought us to our knees financially. Despite some critical government support, we have also had to borrow significantly to ensure the survival of The Playbarn. We have done everything we can to remain open for children and families who have needed us, but it has taken much longer than any of us imagined for things to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Things have certainly improved slightly over the last few months. There is now, at last, a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, with the recent government announcement gradually lifting restrictions. However, this positive news comes frustratingly at the most critical time for us - all sources of possible financial support have dried up completely.
Income at The Playbarn has not recovered sufficiently to meet our outgoings. So we desperately need your help to survive this critical period in the short term. Any money raised will go straight towards us meeting many of our business needs which include:
- The purchase of 2 x 9-Seater minibuses (our current fleet of 6 vehicles is no longer enough to cover the pick-ups and drop-offs for both premises with 20 schools over a 40-mile radius. Especially as our old faithful blue 16-Seater minibus finally gave up the ghost during lock-down! )
- The purchase of 4 x new laptops (2 for each setting) - the children have been without computer access for some time now.
- Staff wages and rising National Insurance costs.
- Costs of rent, heating, fuel for school transport and vehicle maintenance.
- Covid costs eg, cleaning and PPE requirements, high servicing costs for Covid loans.
Thank you so much for your interest if you have made it this far!
I can't even begin to tell you what it would mean to have some security. We so appreciate any donation at all, no matter how small. We know times are tight for everyone but if you can help it would make all the difference to us.
Thank you!
Love,
Zoë, Joe and our wonderful Playbarn family
xx
Organizer
Zoë Houghton
Organizer
Scotland
