DETERMINED parents have saved a Gourock nursery from closure just days after its future was thrown into doubt.

Staff, parents and children at Bambinos in John Street were left shocked last week when owner Alfonso Marturano broke the news that he would have to shut the nursery down if a new owner was not urgently found.

Mums and dads mounted an emergency campaign to save the private facility — and it paid off when Joan Baldwin was named as the new owner of the pre-five business, which employs six staff and cares for 31 children.

Joan told the Tele she was thrilled to step in and take over with the help of her step daughter Maria Crawley, whose son Liam attends the nursery.

Joan, 53, who lives in Skelmorlie, said: “I’m very excited to be the new owner.

“My step daughter Maria had told me about the situation as she was really worried about what she was going to do about childcare for Liam if it closed.

“Liam has three grandmothers so we wouldn’t have seen her struggle but there are a lot of other parents who don’t have that support network in place.

“As a parent myself who needed childcare for my own son, I understood how upsetting this must’ve been for the parents.

“I looked into it and it seemed like the nursery needed someone with the foresight to keep it as a community nursery and to be hands on and active within the facility, which is why I went for it.” Joan, who has just retired from her position as a team manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgage Centre in Greenock, praised all the staff and parents for their support.

She said: “I want to thank the parents as they have been amazing, especially David Shirra who has put so much work into it.” Maria is equally as delighted that the battle to save Bambinos has been a success.

She said: “We had a meeting on Sunday to try and save the nursery and it brought everyone together.

“We are like a community, a real family, so I’m delighted that it has been saved.” Parent David Shirra, whose two-year-old son Blair attends Bambinos, told the Tele: “It feels like all the sleepless nights have been worthwhile.

“A lot of the parents were really worried as it’s the only private nursery in the area and it would’ve been such a shame to see it close, as the staff are brilliant.

“It’s incredibly exciting that the parents and staff all pulled together to make sure that it stayed open.” Joan is now signing all the legal documents as part of the takeover and the facility will be open for business as usual in the meantime with limited childcare places available.