A NEW era for families has dawned with the opening of the £1.1 million Redvales Children's Centre.

The purpose-built centre represents four years of work by staff and parents of the local Sure Start programme, which has been temporarily based in Heywood Street. It was opened by the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Steve Treadgold.

Currently 900 local families are registered with the programme which provides services to improve the health and life chances for young children and their families.

The centre will initially operate from Monday to Friday but more services are in the pipeline. Sue Myers, manager of Sure Start, said: "We hope to grow services in a flexible way that will be of most use to families and will be offering a range of services at weekends and in the evenings to ensure maximum use of the centre. We also aim to involve older children in the programme."

The centre boasts a team of social workers, teachers, health professionals and play staff, while the nursery provides 50 full-day places combining day care and early education.

Sue added: "It is a pleasure to work with families in a setting that is bright, clean and well resourced: it is a big morale boost for both staff and families."