Staff and children at a ransacked nursery had reason to smile again thanks to the kindness of a trader.

On October 11, workers at Smilers in Chattenden Lane, Chattenden, arrived to find thieves had broken in over the weekend.

They'd trashed office equipment before leaving the premises with just £10 in petty cash.

Although it opened for business that day, a major clean-up had to take place with the kiddies confined to one room.

Following a story about the incident on KentOnline and a posting on social media, nursery manager Nicola Parsons was contacted by Gillingham-based Urban Rollez who offered to help improve security.

Last week he spent half a day on site installing a security shutter over the front door.

She said: "We were devastated to see all the damage and it was hard to believe someone would do this to the nursery and the children.

"We were overwhelmed when the company got in touch having seen what had happened on KentOnline and social media.

"It was a real flip around from asking how someone could cause this damage to having a stranger coming forward to help.

"We were so grateful for what he did for us."

Business owner Dan Copping, who had to dismantle the roof, said parts and labour came to about £850.

He said: "We kept getting tagged on Facebook and I thought 'you know what, we're doing well; we should put something back into the community'.

"It was a bit of a headache to get it all sorted, but it looked good in the end and they were over the moon."

Police are still investigating the crime and there have been no arrests.

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