A PLAYLEADER at a Hadleigh nursery has praised the response of the local community after fire gutted the building.Mandy Talbot who has co-run the Playstation Pre-School Group since it opened three years ago claims that the support of parents has helped quash her anger.

A PLAYLEADER at a Hadleigh nursery has praised the response of the local community after fire gutted the building.

Mandy Talbot who has co-run the Playstation Pre-School Group since it opened three years ago claims that the support of parents has helped quash her anger.

She said: "I was filled with anger and disbelief when I saw the building but the anger has slowly ebbed away because of the lovely support we have had.

"We have been offered so many toys and so much help tidying up."

The fire was one of four suspicious blazes in the town over the weekend - a shed was destroyed on Gallows Hill at around 11.30pm with two wheelie bin fires at Sisters Court and Meadows Way during the course of the evening.

The pre-school fire broke out shortly before 3am, leaving the majority of the building's contents destroyed.

Mrs Talbot added: "More or less everything inside was destroyed - with children you can't really reuse things with smoke damage.

"The value of the damage has been estimated at £15,000, our insurance will only cover £10,000."

The nursery will move, temporarily, to Beaumont Primary School which has a classroom available from February 2.

The future of the premises in Calais Street will be decided by Babergh council if restoration, is not viable they could agree to flatten the building.

Currently the nursery caters for more than 50 children with 20 to 30 on a waiting list.

Mrs Talbot said: "We have informed all of the parents and they have all asked "why" - the odd child had cried.

"One girl came up to me and asked if me and the other playleader were okay, which was lovely.

"Since we were given full-day care a lot of the children spend most of their time here and it will affect them."

The nursery has suffered from a degree of vandalism in the pas with windows broken and plastic frames burnt with cigarettes but nothing has happened on this scale.

Police are unsure whether the weekend's fires are linked and anyone with information on the incidents should contact Dc Weston at Hadleigh Police Station on 01473 613500 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the Playstation pre-school should contact Mandy Talbot on 01473 828369.