NEWPORT mums upset about the closure of a city playgroup have told the Argus they are “devastated”.

Sisters Carol Reid and Lynn Rusic, owners of Little Acorns playgroup in Fairfax Road, claim they were evicted from their church-owned premises ahead of Newport council plans to set up a nursery nearby.

Around 16 mothers met up at the playgroup building to discuss the closure.

The owners say they were given just a term’s notice by the Church of St Patrick to leave the Pavilion, near St Patrick’s RC Primary School, shortly before Easter.

With the playgroup gone there will be no provision for children aged two to three, and 12 members of staff have lost their jobs.

Sarah Lowe, 33, said: “My daughter, Sophie, started here when she was two, and they were so brilliant with her. I was hoping we could come here again with the next one, but obviously that’s not going to happen now.

“Because I work shifts they have always been brilliant, so flexible with me.

“It’s just devastating it’s going.”

Donna Sparks, 41, is a mother of three. She said: “I’m absolutely gutted, Ruby came here and she’s eight now, Maisie is six and she came here too, and Lillie was still at the playgroup when it closed.

“She’s not three until October. There’s nowhere I can put her in the mean time as there is nothing around here.

“It’s very sad. I would not want to put her in a different nursery group anyway – I trust Carol.”

Natalie Hall, 24, said: “I’m angry about it all – Caitlin came here when she was two and she loved it. It’s the only playgroup nearby. When Kyle started he was so shy and timid and they turned that around.

“Now I can’t work until September, when Caitlin is back in school, and then I will still have to pay a childminder more money for less hours than we had at the playgroup.”

Father Michael McCarthy, parish priest at the Church of St Patrick, said there was a contract between the two parties in place giving one term’s notice, arranged by his predecessor last October.

He said the church had offered to try to find them premises elsewhere in the area.