PARENTS and youngsters have been flocking to a new children’s activity centre, which opened in Westbury on Saturday.

Splodges, set up by mum-of-three and former teacher Vikki McIntyre, had 200 children through the door within three days of opening in Eden Vale Road.

It has a soft play frame with a slide and ball pool for children up to the aged of 10 and arts and crafts activities. But the centre aims to soon have its own glee club, for youngsters aged five to 10.

Mrs McIntyre lives in Westbury Leigh with husband Iain, head of music at John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge, and children Jessica, nine, Alexia, five, and Lucas, three.

The 37-year-old, a former head of performing arts at Trowbridge’s Clarendon College, said she was over the moon at the response.

“We are really pleased. It has been a great start,” she said.

“I think the fact that we are so centrally located in Westbury and close to the infant schools has been good for getting people in.

“I taught at Clarendon College for six years, but when all the redundancy offers came up I decided to take it. I felt it was time to move on and do something else.

“The idea is that the kids get to develop their creativity, with arts and crafts and the glee club, get some exercise and develop their social and communications skills.

“It is also a bit of a break for mum and dad, although we are planning to have parents’ quizzes to give them something to do.”

The centre, which has 10 staff, offers a discount scheme to “green travellers”, who walk, cycle or use public transport to visit.

It also runs themed events days, including Chinese New Year this week, and is nearly fully-booked for birthday parties.

Mrs McIntyre said: “We offer gluten-free snacks. I have experience with making it, as two of my children are coeliac. It has already been popular with other parents whose children have similar conditions. The response has been amazing so far. Now we’re just looking forward to half term.”

For more information, visit www.splodgeswestbury.co.uk, or see the Splodges page on Facebook.