NURSERY bosses are praying no more women will become pregnant — after 10 workers have either had babies or are expecting.

The women all work for Bright Futures nurseries in Cleggs Lane, Little Hulton, and at Green Lane, Great Lever.

Six bundles of delight have already made their appearance while four more are waiting in the wings, so to speak.

Nursery owner Debra Douglas said: “We’ve had a spate of pregnancies — and as we’re a nursery we’re like a self-generating business.

“But at the end of the day, we are all women running a business and I suppose it was inevitable that some of the women, most of whom are young, would have babies — but we never thought we would have this many.

“Of course, having so many people off having babies can cause problems, but they have not been pregnant at exactly the same time and we have been able to manage fine.

“We have taken on extra staff to cover for maternity and the women have said they are returning to work with their babies as soon as they can.”

Mrs Douglas bought Cleggs Lane nursery in 2007 with her friend and business partner, Angela Bibby, and then last year they set up the Green Lane nursery in a large house on the junction of Green Lane and Manchester Road.

The business has thrived since the women took over and they recently started a third business — the Total Impact training and conference centre — situated in a large building at the back of the Green Lane nursery.

Total Impact offers two venues for training, meetings and/or conference purposes. Both rooms come with space with flexibility for a range of options.

The women have recently set up their own training course aimed at those who want to become a nursery nurse.

Mrs Douglas, aged 40, and Mrs Bibby, aged 33, had wanted to make use of the building to run special training courses for women wanting to become nursery nurses.

The women say that both the Cleggs Lane and Green Lane nurseries are full and they have also started a holiday club and a pre and after school club for children.

The friends have gone from working for others to owning three businesses in the space of three years, employing a total of 45 women — and now they are looking to expand by buying another nursery.