I am the chair of the local play group, which has been in existence for 40+ years in our village. We found out at the beginning of September that two of our four staff members are leaving to job share a position at the local school. While unhappy about the short notice, we were okay with that as we still had one staff member with supervisor status and thought we could replace the other two. Then our remaining supervisor handed in her notice for health reasons, leaving us with one staff member. We have been frantically recruiting for the last month, to no avail. Thought we found the perfect supervisor last week but she turned us down in the end because the commute was too long. At the same time, the owner of a local private nursery has been in touch to say that she would be happy to supply us with supervisors, with a view to taking over the nursery. One of the committee members is totally in favour of this, while the rest of us are conflicted. On the one hand, it would rid us of the onerous task of running the nursery. Apparently every five years or so the nursery has faced closure for one reason or another and I think that is probably inherent in a committee-run non-profit nursery. On the other hand, it is a pillar of the community, bringing parents together for fund-raising, etc. I know the name of every child under five in our village because parents are required to do a duty about once a month.
Has anyone gone through this? Any words of advice? Personally, I am just gutted. But I am afraid that "selling out" may be the only viable option...