St. Columba's Nursery School, commonly known as Mrs. Brown's, comes to the end of an era this term as Liz Brown retires after 30 years as head of the establishment.

Mrs. Brown will retire at the end of June when the schools break up for the summer holidays and at the same time Penny McEwan and Liz McFarlane, who have worked with Mrs. Brown for the last 30 years will also be hanging up their aprons to enjoy a peaceful retirement.

Wendy Hannah, who joined the team five years ago, will be taking over as head of St. Columba's Nursery in August.

St. Columba's Nursery School was established as a playgroup in the early 1970s and Mrs. Brown started helping at the group in 1976 when her daughter Denise attended the group. In January 1978 Mrs. Brown took over as head. Her experience in nursery schools in Glasgow led her to run a very well structured programme for the children long before the introduction of curriculum for this age group so, apart from changes in paperwork, the transition from playgroup to nursery during the late 1990s early 2000s was a straight forward one.

Under Mrs. Brown's leadership the nursery school developed a reputation for offering high quality pre-school education and during the 1980s and 90s mothers were encouraged to put their children's names on the waiting list as soon as they were born in order to guarantee a place. The establishment of other nurseries in the town in the late 90s, Little Angels and the nurseries attached to the primary schools relieved the pressure a little but St. Columba's, which can take 24 children each day, continues to be full and continues to cater for ante-pre-school and pre-school children.

In recent years a number of the parents bringing their children to Mrs. Brown have been able to recall attending the nursery school as children themselves. Like Mrs. Brown, they fondly remember their experiences, in particular they recall the annual Christmas parties with fun and games and the parents invited to attend at the end to hear the children sing and to watch as Santa handed out the presents.

Their participation in the annual Bonnet Guild festival is also remembered by many former pupils. The fun of dressing up and marching through the town ahead of the floats, followed by juice and snacks at the park (or in St. Columba's Church Hall on wet occasions) has been one of the highlights of each year at Mrs. Brown's nursery.

Mrs. Brown is looking forward to her retirement, "The time is right," she said. "and I wish Wendy all the very best. I am sure the nursery will continue to go from strength to strength."

While she has no fixed plans for her retirement, Mrs. Brown hopes to be spending lots of time with her four grandchildren and pottering in her garden. In November she and her husband, artist, Campbell Brown, are looking forward to a Caribbean Cruise. At other times you might meet her out walking around Lainshaw Woods or down at the beach.