A NURSERY that had no children when it opened is full of youngsters.

Maidendale Community Nursery, in Burnside Road, Firthmoor, Darlington, had to open in April in order to secure tens of thousands of pounds of funding from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund.

At the time, not a single child was enrolled, but now 17 children have joined.

Yesterday, the nursery, in Maidendale House community centre, was officially opened and a teddy bears' picnic was held to mark the occasion.

Manager Glenis Thomas said: "It went extremely well with lots and lots of people attending.

"The numbers at the nursery are going up all the time now. I don't think anybody anticipated how well we'd be doing at this early stage."