A STRUGGLING playgroup says the threat of closure has been avoided thanks to a desperate survival bid.

There were fears that Hutton Lane Playgroup, in Guisborough might have to close if attendance numbers did not pick up, signalling an end to the group's 20-year history.

But thanks to a fundraising mission throughout the Easter period, things are looking up.

At the start of the new term, yesterday, the group had 22 youngsters on its books and has an average of ten toddlers at the morning and afternoon sessions. The maximum it can take is 26 at each session.

Manager Jenny Morgan said: "We are doing a lot better, but one of the biggest problems is that the children go into school nursery at the age of three so we only have them for six months, because they come to us at two-and-a-half.

"I would say it is the biggest problem facing playgroups in the whole of Cleveland."

Councillor Ian Jeffery, lead member for lifelong learning and leisure with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, explained the council is beating the Government's targets of getting youngsters into nursery education by the age of four because in Redcar and Cleveland they are at nursery by the age of three.

He said the playgroup's concerns should be brought to the attention of the Redcar and Cleveland Early Years Development and Child Care Partnership.