A PRE-SCHOOL in Bewdley has closed its doors permanently as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Community Corner Pre-School in Wyre Hill sent a letter to parents this week to announce the sad news, saying "obstacles preventing the pre-school from reopening suggested by the government" mean it has been forced to make the difficult decision to close.

The letter said: "We are very sorry to have to inform you that obstacles preventing pre-school from reopening as suggested by the government cannot be overcome and therefore, we will not be able to open during June and July.

"Furthermore, we must give you sad news. Chris and Sandra have had to take the extremely difficult decision that Community Corner will close altogether at the end of this term.

"We understand that this will be a shock and that pre-school's closure would leave the local community with no early year's provision. However, we have been in conversation with St Anne's Primary School and their response is incredibly positive. They are keen to ensure that provision is available for our community from September.

"There are processes that school will have to follow to secure this outcome, but we are hopeful they will be able to provide this much-needed facility and we will continue to communicate with them to achieve this end.

"We will continue to keep you updated alongside St Anne's Primary School."

Community Corner was established over 30 years ago and moved to its current site at St Anne's C of E School in 2007, providing sessions for three, four and qualifying two-year-olds.

The announcement has been met by messages of support and sadness from pre-school parents.

Speaking to The Shuttle, a spokesman for the pre-school said: "We would just like to say that we are all really sad that this has been the outcome.

"We have been working hard over the last few weeks to overcome a number of obstacles directly caused by the coronavirus crisis but this has just not proved possible."