Blackpool childhood project's links to Duchess of Cambridge

A Blackpool project is continuing to feed into work by the Duchess of Cambridge to help improve early childhood nearly a year after the Duke and Duchess visited the resort.
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The couple met with experts from Blackpool Better Start during a tour of the town on March 6 last year to hear about the work being done to help under-fives living in deprived areas.

Since then the Duchess has been working on the Early Years programme with the Royal Foundation which saw the launch of the UK-wide '5 Big Questions' survey in January.

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Participants have been asked for their opinion on what influences development and what period of childhood is most important for children's happiness.

Merle Davies (centre) and other members of Better Start chat with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Blackpool last yearMerle Davies (centre) and other members of Better Start chat with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Blackpool last year
Merle Davies (centre) and other members of Better Start chat with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Blackpool last year

Merle Davies, director of the Blackpool Centre for Early Child Development which spearheads the Better Start project, said links were continuing with the Royal Foundation.

She said: "It’s nearly 12 months since the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Blackpool in a fact finding mission about the innovative early years work that is taking place in our town by the Better Start Partnership.

"The Duchess of Cambridge believes the first few years of childhood are more pivotal for development, future health and happiness, than any other single moment of our lifetime, and the Royal Foundation has brought academics, practitioners and charities together to develop the '5 Big Questions’ survey.

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"The questionnaire supports the work we are doing here in Blackpool, and the Duchess was very impressed during her visit with the scope of the services and investment Blackpool Better Start has made into giving children in our town a better start in life.

"The Royal Foundation returned to Blackpool in October with Oxford University to learn more about the work Better Start is doing to promote and improve child development here.

"We are very supportive of the '5 Questions' survey and we are delighted the Duchess is shining a light on this critical stage of a child’s life."

Blackpool families are among those to have taken part in the survey which ends on February 21.