Keep our Creche!

Financial feasibility has been cited as the reason for ceasing all creche services at council run leisure facilities in East Lothian, but we would urge Enjoy Leisure to consider the wider impact of these cuts on children and families in the local community. While we can see that Enjoy Leisure as a business cannot continue to subsidise the creche in the way it has been admirably doing for a decade and beyond, we are deeply saddened by the lack of regard on the part East Lothian Council for the group of users who rely on the creche for their physical and mental wellbeing.

'The only way I can attend fitness classes is by putting my toddler into the creche. I use it twice a week as its all I can afford and attend five classes over those two days. Without the creche I will have to cancel my membership which will be hugely detrimental to my health as well as my mental well-being'

'Having the creche meant I could continue taking my toddler to swimming when my new baby came along.'

'I use the creche for my three year old so I can take my one year old swimming. It allows me to introduce exercise at a young age, gives me one to one time with my baby, and also learning to swim is a valuable life skill that she will otherwise miss out on.'

'I am a single mum, I lost 6 1/2 stone with the help of the creche and gym. My mother just died and I have no family close by so its the only time I can go. It help with my moods so much and sadly if there was no more creche I will no longer be able to go to the centre.'

'I took out gym membership on advice from my doctor to aid physical ailments related to post-partum recovery. I can only attend the appropriate classes with the help of the creche. Regular excercise is by far the best way for me to manage my ongoing health problems, the alternatives being long term physiotherapy or surgery on the NHS.'

The creche facilities offer widespread benefits to the local community, from the physical and mental well-being of new mums, which impacts directly on children in the community, to the ability of parents and carers to immerse their children in exercise and a healthy lifestyle from a young age. A great many mums who chose exercise over medication to manage post-natal depression now see their options significantly reduced, as do those trying to follow a healthy, balanced post-birth weight loss programme. For many more mums a supervised exercise programme is key to resolving post-partum recovery issues, such as diastasis of the abdominal muscles, weakened pelvic floors, sciatic nerve damage, and back pain caused by weakened core muscles.

We urge East Lothian to support Enjoy Leisure, the primary provider for leisure facilities in the area, to take their responsibility to the families and young people in this community into consideration before depriving them of this essential service.