JEANETTE WATSON - Against Adversity awar: Jeanette Watson won this award for her role in creating a scheme, against the odds, to help children in Darlington.

StarKids 2000, in Nickstream Lane, was the brainchild of local mother-of-three Jeanette, who spotted a gap in child-care provision in the Branksome estate area.

She wanted to have job satisfaction and, having successfully retrained, realised that the only way to achieve what she wanted was to start her own business.

There were a number of people who lived locally who were keen to find employment and retrain and she wanted to help provide new career opportunities for them.

Jeanette's staff all live locally, are fully trained and police checked. The nursery has just celebrated its first six months of trading and has a growing number of children.

Ofsted-approved, it has spaces for 38 children from 0-14 covering pre-school, after-school, holiday cover and full-day care.

Jeanette and the team are running the business against adversity because the estate has a range of social problems and the building is the target for vandals, particularly at night.

When the staff come to work in the morning there is glass, debris and on one occasion a needle was found discarded on the pavement outside.

For Jeanette and her team, it has been a constant battle to maintain the building, which has been attacked on a number of occasions, leading to repair costs Jeanette has had to cover herself.

According to her nomination, running a business requires motivation and dedication and Jeannette has plenty of it, refusing to be undermined by the vandals in her determination to provide safe and secure child care for the children who live in the area.

Jeanette has also been working with the police and the borough council to combat the problem.

Initiatives are under way to reduce the problems at night, when most of the vandalism occurs, through providing activities for the young people of the area.