Nursery celebrates £250,000 extension

Mires Beck Nursery at South Cave was founded over a quarter of a century ago to help people especially with learning difficulties.

A registered charity since 1994, more than 70 people come through its doors every week.

Once a 10-acre site, empty apart from one ramshackle building, it now consists of glasshouses, a polytunnel and office and operates as a fully commercial nursery, producing mainly hardy herbaceous perennial plants, and also herbs and shrubs.

Trustee Alan Selby said: "The existing dining and toilet facilities are in a very old temporary building and we've had to put membrane on the roof and hold it down with empty pallets to stop the rain from getting in.

"We want to do the very best we can because we are a people organisation. The only way to do that was to create a completely new building. It's far and away bigger than anything we've done before but it was necessary to remedy the weak spot in the nursery infrastructure."

The building, which was funded by grants from around 40 organisations, includes a large hall for dining, recreation and training, kitchen and toilets and new offices. It is intended to be a community asset available to as many groups as possible.

"We have been given this and we don't want to be selfish," said Mr Selby.

The income from the nursery pays for its running costs, including energy bills and insurance.

He added:"We are running as a commercial nursery because that gives people the best experience. We are not patronising them by pretending to be a nursery – we really are a nursery and supply a significant number of garden centres throughout Yorkshire, North, West, South and East."

Mr Selby said at a time of increasing unemployment some of their workers were going to find it virtually impossible to get a job.

He said: "We provide a working environment here and we are constantly looking to increase the number of service users whom we pay not for all the hours they put in because that could affect their benefits, but if they can go from here with a pay packet that is brilliant for their self-esteem."

The new building will be formally opened at 11am on Tuesday, September 28, by Irene Tinklin, who founded the nursery, and Adrian Horsley, the High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire.