A CHILDREN'S centre has reopened after an arson attack forced it to shut its doors for months.

Mosley Common Children's Centre has been closed since June after the building was badly damaged by a fire that is believed to have been started when someone tried to gain entry to the boiler room.

The location of the fire meant that electricity to the entire building was knocked out, leaving the centre unable to open and forcing the nursery which operates from the building to move to nearby St John’s Primary School on Commonside while the damage was fixed.

Children's centre manager Lyndsey Daly said: "In the meantime we have been running sessions at Tyldesley Children's Centre and out in the community at Lindale Hall.

"We tried to keep on going so that the services didn't just stop but now we are reopen and we have lots of different things and new sessions taking place."

The attempted break-in came not long the centre was closed for two weeks after an industrial-sized wheelie bin was set on fire outside the building.

That fire caused damage to outside panels on the building which had to replaced before the centre could be reopened and smoke damaged toys had to be cleaned or replaced.

Staff were joined by parents and members of the community to celebrate the reopening of the centre on Monday.

"The day was lovely. We had quite a good turnout of parents and their children," said Lyndsey.

"Most of them can't understand why someone would just set fire to a community building.

"At least if they broke in they would get something out of it but to just set fire to a community centre that people rely on for family support and to get them out and about doesn't make sense.

"But we've managed to keep most everything up and running as best week can."

In the next few weeks, the centre will be running sessions including a teaching assistant course, classes on weaning and a computer course. To find out more, visit the children's centre's facebook page.