Strathkinness Playgroup

The following item is based on material supplied by Mr. Peter Royds.

Playgroups in Scotland are relatively new. The first regular group in

Strathkinness was started around 1963 by Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson and held

at her house at 25 Mount Melville Crescent. The group was later run by Mrs.

Veronica Smart and Mrs. Barbara Hobbs, an American living in Strathkinness.

Later Mrs. Smart and Mrs. Emily Dale took over the running of the group.

In 1967 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland gave its support

for playgroups and the group was given the Church Hall to meet in, although

this was delayed for several months due to the Hall having had its roof half

torn off in a gale.

The playgroup was registered as a Nursery with the Fife County Council,

and after local government reorganisation it was registered with the Fife

Regional Council. It is a registered charity and a member of the Scottish Pre-

School Playgroup Association, as well as the North East Fife District branch

of the Pre-School Playgroups.

The Playgroup has always had a close link with the church. It has free

use of the Church Hall, but contributes towards its heating and lighting. Any

change in the Playgroup constitution must be ratified by the Kirk Session.

In addition to support given•by the church, the playgroup gets a grant

from the Regional Council and from the District Council; the Strathkinness

Nursing Association makes a contribution each year, and the Open Group

gives money each year for the children’s Christmas party. The Scottish Home

and Health Department refunds the cost of milk. At times the playgroup has

held its own fund-raising activities, including a sponsored walk by the play-

group children around the village playground.

When the playgroup started the cost was two shillings a family a month to

cover the cost of juice and biscuits. Today the cost is nearly £8 a month.

Although there is a good stock of equipment, replacements and additions have

become very expensive.

The playgroup is for all children between the ages of two years ten months

and school age. The maximum number attending is twenty, as it was when it

first started, and when there are more than twelve children a helper is required

to be present.

There is now a junior group of Mothers and Toddlers which meets on

Wednesday afternoons and has been designed to enable all the mothers and

toddlers in the village to come together.

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