A NURSERY on the Mamhilad Park Estate in Pontypool is aiming to boost local business by offering affordable, high quality childcare.

The founders of Little Stars, Emma Pryer and Marie Ellis Jones, were made redundant from their jobs as nursery teachers and decided to respond by taking a chance on their own.

Emma said: "The location here on the estate is perfect because it means parents can drop their children off before work and still be close enough to pop in to see them during the day."

The nursery can accommodate 35 children between the ages of six weeks and five years.

The owners of Mamhilad Park - Johnsey Estates - were so convinced of the nursery's value as a marketing tool and a resource for the 1,000 or so workers on site, they offered Emma and Marie a year's free rent on their premises.

One of the beneficiaries has been Amanda Crocker from New Inn who has worked at Mamihlad Park for 13 years for Gwent Health Authority.

She recently returned from maternity leave after giving birth to her first child, Rhys.

She said: "The fact there is a nursery on site has made going back to work far easier for me.

"I'm able to drop Rhys off just before nine, and I know that if he was ill I could be there within minutes.

"I'm sure that more nurseries like this would make it easier for mums like me to get back to work."

Emma and Marie turned to the Women's Enterprise Wales project for help in putting their business ideas into practice.

This project aims to get 500 women set up in business before it is wound up.

It is administered by the agency Chwarae Teg (fair play).

Lynne Refae, director of its Valleys development unit, said: "We're so pleased to see Emma and Marie's hard work paying off.

"Even more rewarding is to know that their choice of self-employment will benefit the wider community by allowing more parents to get back into employment."

* Pictured, Deputy First Minister Mike German AM, gets a painting lesson from three-year-olds Emily Ellis Jones and James Barry at Little Stars nursery