And staff, youngsters and local parents marked the milestone with a celebratory birthday bash.

The SNP’s Councillor for the village, Andy Doig, and his wife, Audrey, wished the nursery a happy 30th anniversary.

Cllr Andy said: “When I noticed that the Community Nursery in Kilbarchan were having a 30th anniversary birthday social event Audrey and I were both very keen to go, as our son Iain, who is now at Aberdeen University studying medicine, was one of the first intake of pupils at the new nursery building which they moved into in 1999.

“They had initially been in the East Church but then got a purpose built building which was attached to Kilbarchan Primary”.

“The evening was a tremendous celebration of the excellent record of Kilbarchan Community Nursery since 1984, and of all the dedicated parents and staff who have served the Community Nursery so well since it opened all these years ago. In particular, I would like to thank Mairi McLean and Dorothy McCann for all their dedication and commitment to the Nursery, and the high standards they deliver.” Cllr Audrey Doig added: “It was fantastic to look at old pictures of all the year groups which have passed through the Nursery since 1984. Many of them will no doubt be young adults and often may have children of their own attending the Community Nursery. Early years education is so important and we are lucky that nursery education across Renfrewshire is of such a high standard.

“Children also learn through experience and it was great to see that since our involvement with the Nursery they have developed a garden area out at the back of the building where the children can learn about the great outdoors. I have very fond memories of making a mole costume for Iain when he was at Kilbarchan Nursery as the children were doing a play about the Animals of the Forest, great to see this tradition is still continuing”.