OAKLEY Toddlers group will be holding free sessions until next year to help parents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Meetings had stopped during the summer due to a lack of interest and funds to hire out the hall but the team have now re-launched thanks to a £1,500 grant from Co-op.

Katie McBride, one of the organisers alongside Donna Stupart, Brogan Lynas and Anna Beaumont, said: "We were chosen last year as a project for the Co-op community fund.

"We've got it back up and running and are able to offer it free.

"With the cost of living going up and winter coming, we thought it might help people, it's also an opportunity for the kids and parents to mix and for people who don't know others too."

The decision to cancel sessions earlier this year didn't come lightly – families were only charged £2.50 to join in – but Katie said there simply wasn't enough interest to make it possible.

"Before, we weren't making enough, we had to hire the hall and we weren't getting enough people in so we put it on hold over summer," she explained.

"Before, it was £2.50 per family – you could come in with as many kids – and that included a snack and play.

"I don't think the cost was the issue, it was just that people were away for the summer."

But the group's return has been an immediate success, with familiar faces and new parents getting involved.

Katie continued: "Now there are maybe people who had babies over summer so they are coming in with really young ones.

"Our main problem now is a lack of helpers – the main aspect is setting up and clearing up, that's what we are crying out for, if one of us has to go and deal with something else it maybe just leaves one person.

"There are lots of new faces and lots of people saying they are glad it's back.

"We've had nothing in the village, there is a demand for it – it's just getting it out there."

For now, sessions will remain free but a charge will have to be re-implemented in January to keep the group going, though organisers expect this to remain at the £2.50 rate.

They say that people have already been offering to pay so hope this eagerness will continue and that they won't be faced with the difficult decision to close again.

Katie believes that in the future there could even be scope to expand services, which currently cater to those with babies and youngsters below school age, for older children.

"We couldn't have done this without the grant – we got new equipment and things people have been asking to see," she added.

"It's helped by the local community and only runs for a year – next year Carnock Toddlers have it and we are really encouraging people to get behind them, it has been such a great help for us."

Oakley Toddlers runs between 1-2.30pm on Tuesdays at Oakley Community Centre on Station Road.