Bessborough Community Nursery - one of our most historical settings and an integral part of Westminster’s Bessborough Centre - was formally reopened by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall today after the clinic and nursery underwent a £3.5m refurbishment.

Westminster City Council funded the extensive makeover of the Pimlico centre in partnership with the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) to create a central hub for children’s and family services in the area.

Our new-look nursery now enjoys three brand new play areas, direct access to a lovely new garden and an exciting new sensory room.  The centre itself also benefits from a fully refurbished area for CLCH’s Children Family and Wellbeing Services (offering a range of family and child health services and clinics), along with Westminster City Council’s children’s and family services team. Westminster’s South Child Protection Team and South Locality Children’s Services Team are now also based in the Bessborough Centre, offering social work, school attendance and parenting support.

Westminster Council’s cabinet member for children’s services, young people and community protection Cllr Nickie Aiken said:

Against the backdrop of tough financial challenges, this is one example of Westminster’s continued commitment to providing the best possible care for young children, as well as supporting their future development and providing useful advice for parents.
 

This project has given the Bessborough Centre a new lease of life and I’m confident its new range of facilities and services will be tremendously useful to families in the Pimlico community.

James A. Reilly, chief executive of the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, added:

The Bessborough Centre is a great resource for local families and a really good example of partnership in action. It provides a wide range of health and wellbeing services for children and families, with our health visiting, school health, immunisation and dietetics teams working alongside local authority and voluntary sector colleagues to meet the needs of local people.

During her visit, The Duchess was treated to beautiful singing by our nursery children - which brought the sun out just in time on an otherwise rather wet day - before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the opening of the new centre.

Bessborough already enjoys a royal link - with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother having opened the original Maternity and Child Welfare Centre and Westminster Day Nursery, in Bessborough Street, in 1937.