History
Sandbrook Playgroup in the early 1970s
Sandbrook Community Playgroup was first set up in the 1970s by a group of mothers who wanted to create accessible and affordable childcare for working parents. At that time this was in short supply in Hackney.
The Playgroup started off in an upstairs hall in Stoke Newington, but its founding members campaigned for Hackney Council to provide more suitable premises. They took notice, and agreed for the Playgroup to have a derelict Victorian two-storey terraced house in Sandbrook Road – where it remains today – on very low rent. The Council even gave the parents £6,000 to convert the building for use by under-fives.
Youngsters at Sandbrook Playgroup when it first opened
“We were all so desperate. The local playgroup was full up with a long waiting list, so we said: ‘Let’s try and start our own’.”
Larraine Worpole – now an 80-year-old photographer – said these words on London TV news show ‘Today’ in the 1970s. “We had to lug all the equipment in this church hall up to the top floor. It was doing our backs in.”
“We saw these empty houses in Hackney – there were thousands of them at the time. When I went on TV I was making the point that there were empty houses that were boarded up and that playgroups were really important for all sorts of reasons, to provide a place where parents and children could come and meet each other.”
Larraine Worpole outside Sandbrook Community Playgroup in 2016
The Playgroup raised the rest of the money by organising gigs and discos in the temporary hall, and holding lots of jumble sales.
“Obviously we wouldn’t have been able to have got the Playgroup going without the council’s help,” recalls Larraine, who still lives in Stoke Newington. “We wouldn’t have had the time to raise the money.”
The group was influential and also campaigned for many women’s issues – the first being for fathers to be able to attend births at Hackney Hospital.
“You felt that you could help to make some changes, and it wasn’t through being in the Labour Party or any other party – it was by working with other people and giving evidence of how this was affecting people.”
“They were happy days for us all. You didn’t feel you were on your own. There were like minded people around who got involved, and it’s very good to know that continues.”
The 40th anniversary celebration party at Sandbrook Community Playgroup
Since then Sandbrook Community Playgroup has become an integral part of the local community and, as it did over 40 years ago, welcomes all children from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures including those with special needs and disabilities.
Parents still form the management committee and some become trustees, which gives them a real say in how the Playgroup operates. They employ qualified early years professionals who are responsible for the day to day running and this close partnership between parents and staff is what makes Sandbrook Community Playgroup so unique. Everybody works together to ensure that the children have the best possible care and education in those all important early years of their lives.
It really is a very special place.
The 40th anniversary celebration party at Sandbrook Community Playgroup