Ref. 25716-30A PARK South playgroup is to close because there are not enough children on its books to keep it going.

Cranmore Community Play- group opened in 1969, and over the years has provided hundreds of local children with a pre-school education.

But increasing competition from other groups has been blamed on the closure.

Not wishing to go out on a sad note, the playgroup, at Park South Community Centre in Cranmore Avenue, held a party to mark its closure.

A clown and a bouncy castle were brought in to entertain the children, who were also treated to a party meal.

The occasion was an emotional one for 68-year-old Jean Henderson, who supervised the playgroup for 15 years before retiring last Christmas.

Mrs Henderson, whose son was one of the first to attend Cranmore when it opened 34 years ago, said it was sad to see the playgroup go after all that time.

"With all the nurseries opening up it was bound to happen sooner or later," she said. "And people around here aren't having so many children these days."

One of the party guests attended the playgroup as a child back in 1978.

Frances Johnson, of Thornbridge Avenue, said she had some really good memories of Cranmore.

But yesterday the 28-year-old was there as a parent.

Her three-year-old son Damien who said he liked painting pictures of dinosaurs is to move to Oaktree Nursery, in Walcot, in September.

Many parents were disappointed by the closure of Cranmore but at a recent meeting they reluctantly accepted they could no longer afford to run it.

The group needed £280 a week to run but was getting only half of that.

Parental contributions of £2 a day were not enough.

Previous years' intakes have numbered 25 children, but last September only seven registered to attend.

Since then the number has climbed to 11, but this is still too few to make the playgroup viable.

Kim Kyson, the playgroup's secretary, said: "We simply don't have enough children to keep it open."

The news that a playgroup has been struggling to fill its places will come as a surprise to many Swindon parents used to lengthy waiting lists.

But Veronica Gray of the Swindon-based Pre School Learning Alliance said the picture varied around the town.

"In the northern section you might get waiting lists but here in east Swindon the numbers of children are dropping," she said. "Playgroups can only survive if there are enough children."

All of Cranmore's children are understood to have found alternative playgroups or nurseries.