A CHILDCARE facility that aims to plough thousands of pounds back into a former pit village will open next week.

Craghead Childcare Centre, in Craghead, near Stanley, will be a community-led project, run on a not-for-profit basis.

Cash generated above running costs will be set aside to help fund other schemes that will boost quality of life for villagers.

A similar nursery already exists in Scotswood, Newcastle, but the £440,000 Craghead facility is believed to be the first of its kind in County Durham.

Centre manager Christine Hobbs said: "This is a real community business, where all the profits will be ploughed back into the community.

"It will go into a pot to be dished out wherever we need it, so we can offer more services at the nursery and in the community."

The centre, which is due to open on Wednesday September 1, will offer places for 30 children.

Based next to the village hall, it will provide day care facilities for under-fives, and a morning pre-school nursery for children aged three and four.

There is already a waiting list of 30 youngsters.

Some of the applications have been from parents whose children will not start at the nursery until next year.

Miss Hobbs said: "Residents have been campaigning for a nursery for a number of years. Before, parents had to travel for pre-school education, either to the Burnside Resource Centre, in South Stanley, or up to Oxhill.

"We already have names down for kids who won't be coming here for two or three years."

It is the second community-run business to be set up by Craghead Area Partnership and follows the success of a project that saw part of the village hall turned into a sub-post office, which is also run on a not-for-profit basis.

Partnership worker Tracy Davinson, who helps run the post office, said: "The village has supported it really well. They have come back in droves.

"With the South Stanley post office now expected to close, we also hope to pick up some of its customers as well."

The nursery was funded with grants from SureStart Stanley, the Green Corridor Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Fund, Settlement Renewal Initiative, European Regional Development Fund and the Greggs Trust.

It has already created five new jobs. For more details, contact (01207) 281597.