Best One Isleworth transforms a local creche

Last month, C-Store and Britvic headed to Isleworth in Hounslow, London, to give the Transform Your Patch competition winners, Best-One Isleworth owners Chan and Alkesh Gadher, a hand with their community project and to see how they had used the £1,000 prize money they received.

We met Chan and crèche owners Jayne Fanning and Tanya Southall at the Kidzone crèche. “Some 95% of the mums and children who go to Kidzone are customers of ours,” explained Chan. “We often chat to them when they come in the store, so we knew the difficulties the crèche was facing and that it was in need of our help. With the current economic situation, the crèche provides a welcoming environment where mums and childminders can go to socialise, so it has a really important role to play and we were keen to support it.”

Chan and Alkesh have an action plan to help Kidzone, and winning the competition has given the project a huge boost. One of the key problems was that the crèche didn’t have an outdoor play area and that business suffered as a result in the warmer summer months. Another issue was that, due to frequent use, much of the play equipment was showing signs of wear and tear. Chan and Alkesh decided to invest in collapsible fencing, which would allow the children to play outside in the summer, and bought a baby gate, a generator for a bouncy castle, and new play equipment.

On their visit Cled Exon, customer development executive at Britvic, and C-Store’s key account manager Dominic Sabine rolled up their sleeves and got to work, helping to set up the equipment. As the weather had turned colder, it was a little too chilly for the kids to play outside, but there was plenty to keep them busy indoors including a new play garage, kitchen, space hoppers, shopping trolley, and a rocker, to name but a few.

“It’s lovely to see where Transform Your Patch has benefitted communities,” said Exon. “This is the kind of project that will make a difference for years to come.”

And the story doesn’t end there. Over the coming weeks, Best-One will replace the crèche’s signage, and store staff will clear up debris in the car park area and paint the external walls.

“Alkesh is going to sort out getting the area cleaned up and help keep it that way,” added crèche co-owner Tanya Southall. “We’re really grateful to have his and Chan’s support. We’ll definitely expect to get more business now that we’ve got such a wide variety of good quality toys.”